Cheaper or even free public transport for Aucklanders could be nigh
Wednesday, 8 May 2019
Aucklanders could enjoy cheaper public transport trips from early next year under a plan to be decided soon by councillors.
Three ideas, including free weekend travel for under-15s, have emerged from wider work aimed at boosting patronage, and make public transport more accessible.
Other proposals are to accelerate the introduction of cheaper ferry fares if combined with a bus or train trip, and offering a bigger discount to students.
The plan canvassed by councillors at a workshop on Tuesday, could lift patronage by 1.3 million trips a year, and cost $2.8 million.
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The catalyst for an increasingly active push to cut fares began before Christmas, when Auckland Transport announced that bus and trains would be free to use on the Friday leading into Christmas.
In the New Year, AT revealed it had hoped to freeze fares, rather than roll out its annual increase, but failed to get funding from either the council or NZTA.
A political champion for lowering fares has been the chair of the council's planning committee Chris Darby, who described the proposals to be considered next week as a good start.
'My colleagues also said they would like a 'staircasing' of work on this - so this is a first look,' he told Stuff.
Allowing under-15s to travel free on weekends would lose revenue of $643,000 but could generate 989,000 additional trips.
A proposal to lift the student discount from 20 per cent to 25 per cent would cost $1.69m but could add 124,000 trips
Providing discounted ferry fares, where they connect with a bus or train trip for electronic card users, would cost $502,000 but could add 180,000 journeys.
Ferry Fare Integration is technically possible now, but hadn't been planned for another couple of years.
All three initiatives at the top of the list are proposed to start during February 2020, if not earlier.
Auckland councillors will consider the proposals at next week's Finance and Performance Committee, along with other transport ideas in the annual budget process.
A long list of patronage-boosting ideas remain on a future 'to-do' list, but many are much more expensive.
Free weekend and public holiday travel would cost more than $19m, generating an additional 3.5 million trips.
Another patronage-booster would be capping the amount that could be spent in one day - effectively an unlimited day pass - which could cost $6.43m but add 1.69 million trips.
Similar initiatives have been backed by the climate change lobby Generation Zero, with a campaign it launched in March.
In a 24-page report, it said the first step should be the scrapping of a Government policy requiring fares to cover half the cost of public transport.
The so-called Farebox Recover Ratio, has been a partial factor in recent annual fare rises in Auckland, though the current 44 per cent achieved in the city is well below the target of fares covering 50 per cent of the cost of services.
More attractive fares will require additional funding from both ratepayers, and from taxpayers through NZTA.
That forms part of a bigger programme of work underway between the council and government, looking at projects and ideas that might shift motorists out of their cars into public transport.
Auckland's public transport budget is already under pressure, with the council agency revealing that it faces a $4m hit from the introduction of more regular breaks for bus drivers this week.
The law change bringing in the new regime of breaks, means bus operators need to employ more drivers to provide the same number of services.
Auckland Transport believes the cost in the next full-year could be as much as $10m.