The government is implementing ambitious plans for the sustainable development of public transport in the country. For the period to 1999/2000 passenger traffic volume grew by almost 50%.
In Christchurch, the second largest metropolitan area of the country, since 1998 the number of citizens using public transport services, has doubled. However, due to non-uniform density of the population of New Zealand, the number of trips per person per year in the whole country is only 28. The new transport strategy for New Zealand plans to increase this figure four times – to the level of 117 trips per person per year. This will be possible if, firstly, the projected until 2017 the pace of public transport growth in Wellington will continue at the same rate until 2040, and secondly, if in Auckland and Canterbury cities will reach the same growth that and in Wellington in 2020.