Coronavirus: More Kiwis on the road as alert level 3 approaches

Friday, 24 April 2020

As we inch closer to the end of coronavirus lockdown, traffic counts show there are more cars on the road – despite no change to the rules.

On Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda announced the country was facing another week in level 4 lockdown before moving to level 3 on Tuesday April 28.

But New Zealand Transport Agency data shows the day after the announcement, the country's roads were busier than at the same point the previous week.

Until this week, Auckland's roads have been quiet - that could be changing.

The biggest jump was in Dunedin, where there were 18 per cent more cars on Tuesday compared to the Tuesday before.

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Hamilton also saw considerably more cars on the road, with light traffic up by 14.4 per cent on the previous week.

Light traffic includes any vehicles under 5.5 metres, while heavy traffic counts vehicles over 11m. In Hamilton, heavy traffic was up 11.1 per cent.

Auckland saw car traffic increase by 7.8 per cent while in Christchurch it was up by 8.6 per cent.

However, the increase in the capital was marginal: just 0.7 per cent.

While the data shows there were more cars on the road this week, the figures are relative to a sharp reduction in traffic across the country under lockdown.

Traffic at monitoring sites this week was down between 66 and 78 per cent compared to the same time in 2019.

Public transport use has also increased in Auckland and Christchurch this week.

Auckland had 7 per cent more passengers on Tuesday compared to the week prior, but patronage on buses, trains and ferries is still down 91 per cent on last year.

In Christchurch, bus weekly patronage was down 86 per cent compared to last year, but there was a 16 per cent increase on Tuesday from the previous week.

Weekly bus trips in Wellington were down 91 per cent compared to last year, and Tuesday was down 10.5 per cent from the previous week.