Auckland's regional fuel tax drives long-haul public transport use - report

Friday, 5 April 2019

Auckland's regional fuel tax is being credited with helping to shift Aucklanders out of their cars and onto public transport.

A detailed analysis of trip data by the council's chief economist shows bus and train use in outer-lying areas grew by three to four times that in central suburbs, after the 11.5 cent a litre tax came in last July.

This map shows the growth in public transport use since the fuel tax came in increased most in the north and south areas, indicated in red.

'That's really strong evidence,' said the council's chief economist David Norman, after sifting through 450,000 rows of figures.

Norman said patronage in August and September 2018, was up 26.5 per cent, and 9 per cent in the outer-most local board areas of Franklin in the south and Rodney in the north, compared with a year earlier.

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That compared with growth of just 1-2 per cent in the more central suburbs.

The analysis stripped out other possible factors such as the increased frequency and capacity of some services, new routes introduced in central Auckland, to ensure a like-for-like comparison which left the tax as the most likely factor for the rise.

'That delivered what you'd expect to see if you increased the price of travel in motor vehicles - the most affected will be the ones with the longest journeys,' Norman told Stuff.

The tax was advocated by Mayor Phil Goff, and campaigned on by the Labour Party which formed a coalition government in 2017.

Its prime role had been to raise additional funds to accelerate the roll-out of transport projects.

'Right now, the regional fuel tax is already paying dividends in helping change how people travel, doing its bit to free up space on the roads,' said Norman.

The regional fuel tax is jostling with a major overhaul of Auckland's bus network, to claim credit for rising public transport use.

A paper released last week by Auckland Transport, focussed on the role of its 'new network' system of bus routes and frequencies, in lifting patronage, without mentioning the tax.

The roll-out over two years, of a simplified network with more frequent services and often the need to transfer, had been followed by bus patronage rising 12 per cent in the north, 11 per cent in the west, and 17 per cent in the east.

The regional fuel tax was not universally supported, and the revealing by Stuff of previously unpublished polling by Goff's office showed it was only the best of a mostly-opposed range of revenue-raising ideas.

The most favoured of five options was a 10 cent a litre fuel tax, supported by 31 per cent, followed by a $4 per day motorway toll, approved by 20 per cent.

But in every case, more people opposed new revenue gathering, than supported it.

The fuel tax was opposed by 33 per cent of people, a motorway toll by 56 per cent, and selling council assets, such as airport shares or the port company, by 62 per cent.

The tax was least favoured by households earning less than $50,000, younger people, and those without dependent children.