Land transport rules up for reform 

There are plans afoot to overhaul New Zealand’s land transport rules. Transport Minister Chris Bishop says the Government will be pushing ahead with reforms in a bid to increase productivity, reduce costs and improve efficiency across the sector. These should be more effective than a road cone hot line too. 

The review is part of the newly announced Land Transport Rules Reform Programme, which Bishop says is aimed at stripping out outdated regulations and easing compliance costs for road users and businesses.

“Land transport rules set out how different sectors of the transport industry must operate. They impact all road users – from the suburban mum or dad who has to get a Warrant of Fitness every year no matter how new or well-maintained their car, to the truckies who’ve been loaded up with compliance costs due to rules long since made redundant through advances in technology,” Bishop says.

Examples highlighted by Bishop include the current Road User Rule that doesn’t permit e-scooters in cycle lanes or allow young children to cycle on footpaths, and a reliance on hard copy letters – with 14 million mailed last year at a cost of $16.8 million.

Bishop points to earlier consultation this year on reducing Warrant and Certificate of Fitness renewal requirements for motorhomes and vintage vehicles as a sign of the Government’s approach to “common-sense” reform.

“Now we’re taking that same common-sense approach to other transport rules through a comprehensive programme of work to reform and update them, with most decisions expected to be made over the next 18 months,” he says.

A key area under review is the introduction of additional safety requirements for imported vehicles, which could have significant implications for the used import sector.

Seven streams of reform

The Land Transport Rules Reform Programme includes seven key areas:

• Reducing WOF and COF inspection frequency for vintage vehicles and motorhomes.
• Introducing new safety requirements for vehicle imports.
• Reviewing WOF/COF requirements for light vehicles.
• Simplifying heavy vehicle licensing, weight thresholds and freight permits.
• Enabling digital driver licences, removing physical labels and stickers, and allowing online theory testing.
• Improving lane use, including allowing e-scooters in cycle lanes, children cycling on footpaths, and requiring vehicles to give way to buses.
• Overhauling the vehicle regulatory system to streamline import requirements and align with overseas standards.

“The work delivers on commitments in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport and the Road Safety Objectives document to review the vehicle regulatory system to improve safety, reduce regulatory burden, and ensure our domestic rules are fit for purpose, investigate our warrant of fitness system to more effectively and efficiently target risk, and investigate new safety requirements for vehicles entering the fleet,” says Bishop.

Some elements of the reform will take longer than 18 months, including the complete overhaul of the vehicle regulatory system and a review of the Vehicle Dimension and Mass rule.

Consultation timeline

Public consultation will begin in October 2025 on:

• Additional safety requirements for imports
• Changes to WOF and COF requirements for light vehicles
• Freight permitting changes

Further consultation is expected in early 2026 on:

• Licensing weight thresholds

• Digital driver licences and e-documents
• Lane use and traffic control device changes

A review of the broader vehicle regulatory system will begin consultation in mid-2026.