Auckland buses: Drivers share $8 million pay rise as shortage hits services

Thursday, 28 July 2022

Transport Minister Michael Wood speaks on the first day of half price public transport fares. (Video from April 2021)

Auckland bus drivers are getting an $8 million annual pay rise to help tackle recruitment and retention problems.

The council is funding an average 8% pay rise for drivers at public transport operators, at a time when the Auckland network is 400 drivers short, contributing to near-record cancellations.

The extra funding will flow through to bus operators, whose drivers have been on differing pay rates, some as low as the “living wage” of $22.75 an hour.

Auckland Transport (AT) said the funding which it had sought from council will lift average rates to $25.62 an hour, from an industry average in the city of $23.72.

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“Ensuring that our public transport system is funded to be fully staffed and provide reliable and regular services is critical to encouraging more people to use it,” said the mayor Phil Goff.

Bus service cancellations are still running high as Covid-19 and winter illnesses worsen a driver shortage. (File photo)

The new pay rates for trade union members will range from $27.15 an hour at the Waiheke Bus Company, to $24.85 at Ritchies and Pavlovich.

Trade unions representing many of the 2400 drivers have welcomed the increase, though with caution.

“It will certainly help, but the still long shifts across 14 hours a day, and the assaults on drivers certainly need attention as well,” said Gary Froggatt, president of the Auckland Tramways Union.

A screenshot of cancelled services, in pink, on Auckland Transport's app.

Froggatt said, to AT’s credit, the agency was in discussion with unions on those areas.

“This is a major first step in retaining experienced bus drivers and attracting new people to an industry that is crucial in New Zealand’s recovery from the pandemic and our thriving cities,”said Louisa Jones, First Union assistant general secretary.

The announcement came as daily cancellations of bus services continued below the recent peak of 2000 cancellations a day.

In the latest week for which figures are available, 1743 bus services were cancelled on July 18, the highest for that week.

Auckland public transport bus drivers are to get an average 8% pay rise. (File photo)

AT said about a third of cancellations were due to Covid-19 either affecting the driver directly or within drivers’ families and another third were down to other winter illnesses.

The city’s biggest ferry operator, Fullers360, also said it was struggling with a shortage of both ferry captains and deckhands.

It said higher salaries offshore were luring away experienced skippers.

AT hoped new timetabling in October and March-June 2023 would give more bus drivers unbroken shifts, as more off-peak services were added between the traditional rush hours.

It also hoped the opening of the borders after Covid-19 restrictions might bring new drivers into the public transport sector.

“Some start in the bus industry and some stay – we don’t have that pipeline of workers and competition [with other industries] is hard,” said Darek Koper, the group manager of Metro Services.

Winter illnesses and the unreliability of services are set against a patronage boost hoped for through the government’s half-price fares initiative, now extended until February.

Patronage in Auckland has risen 42% since the discount began in early April.

However, AT said it couldn’t determine how much was due to lower fares and how much was an existing trend of rising numbers as more people ended or reduced working from home.