The National Guidelines for Transport System Management (the NGTSM or the Guidelines) are an infrastructure planning and decision-support framework applied to transport. They outline best practice for transport planning and assessment in Australia. The Guidelines provide a comprehensive framework for overall transport system management, focusing primarily on planning, assessing and developing transport systems and related initiatives. Good transport system management starts with good planning and decision-making, followed by good decisions about individual initiatives. The Guidelines are a key component of processes to ensure that proposals to improve transport systems in Australia, though policies, strategies, plans and specific initiatives, achieve jurisdictional goals and objectives, provide maximum benefit to the community and represent value for money. Users of the Guidelines include government departments and agencies, private firms, individuals, industry bodies and consultants. Previous editions of the Guidelines were published in 2004 and 2006 and endorsed by all Australian jurisdictions. They are currently being revised in a two-stage revision process. Box 1 sets out the aims of this process. Stage 1 will deliver an initial NGTSM Refresh (Edition 3 of the NGSTM) around April 2015. Stage 2 will deliver the final revised edition (Edition 4). The revision is being overseen by a steering committee of representatives from Australian transport bodies. Steering Committee members are listed in Box 2. They include the Australian, state and territory governments, Infrastructure Australia (the Australian Government’s independent infrastructure advisory body), the New Zealand Government, an international expert and Austroads (as a project management advisor). This and other documents on the NGTSM website (http://ngtsmguidelines.com) contain the NGTSM Refresh. It is the outcome of Stage 1 of the NGTSM revision process, which focused on: * Updating the NGTSM framework * Strengthening the critical up-front aspects of the framework so they better align with Infrastructure Australia’s methods — including goals, objectives and targets, problem identification and assessment, options generation and assessment * Scoping further guidance on integrated transport and land use planning — Stage 2 will see reporting on the scoping work, and development of any approved new guidance * Updating road parameter values * Providing initial guidance on wider economic benefits and productivity metrics * Updating the guidance on travel demand modelling * Commencing integration of the Austroads Guide to Road Transport Planning and Guide to Project Evaluation. This NGTSM 3rd edition (Refresh) has benefited from stakeholder feedback received during the public consultation period in January to February 2015. Stage 2 of the NGTSM Revision project is also underway and focuses on the remaining project scope (see GHD 2013 for more detail on the scope). Stage 2 will deliver the 4th edition of the Guidelines by the end of 2015. The 4th edition will be considered by the Transport and Infrastructure Council (the Council). The Council’s membership consists of the transport ministers of the Commonwealth, states and territories and New Zealand, and the president of the Australian Local Government Association. It is expected that Infrastructure Australia will also consider using the revised Guidelines in its assessment processes for proposed initiatives. A key feature of Stage 2 will be implementing an ongoing maintenance mechanism for the Guidelines beyond 2015 so they remain relevant and updated in future (see Maintaining and updating the NGTSM at the end of this document). (Author/publisher)
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