More free public transport being considered for Auckland

Monday, 11 February 2019

Rail patronage rose by 80 per cent on the Friday evening pre-Christmas when travel was free.

Aucklanders could get more chances to travel free on public transport following a pilot just before Christmas.

Auckland Transport said it was considering suggestions, such as New Year's Eve and Auckland's Anniversary weekend, after a surge in patronage during the fare-free evening in December.

The agency, at the request of Police, made public transport free after 4pm on the last Friday before Christmas, largely to reduce drink-driving.

Train use was up 80 per cent on the previous Friday, and Auckland Transport estimated bus use was up by as much as 50 per cent.

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'It did exceptionally well – not just in the city going out for dinner, but also with families,' Stacey van der Putten, the group manager of Metro delivery, said.

AT said after the electronic ticketing system was turned off at 4pm on December 21, a second system on the trains counted 41,082 passengers through the evening, up from 22,749 the previous Friday.

There was no reliable way to gauge bus patronage once the ticket machines were turned off.

Van der Putten said while on a normal Friday there would be a peak before numbers tailed off, on the free evening there was consistently good patronage through to 11pm.

AT has made no decision yet on whether to repeat the exercise but van der Putten said it had noted public suggestions that it could work on New Year's Eve or Auckland Anniversary weekend.

The free evening was estimated to have cost AT $120,000 through the loss of fare revenue it would normally have received.