Wellington off-peak transport fares could go up 42%

Wednesday, 26 February 2025

Greater Wellington Regional Council will conduct its annual review of public transport fares on Thursday.

Greater Wellington council officers have recommended a 42.8% increase to off-peak fares for trains and buses, citing rising operating costs and government cuts to public transport funding.

The regional council will conduct its annual review of public transport fares on Thursday, and it looks like the changes will go further than regular inflationary adjustments.

Currently, it costs $4.43 to bus from Island Bay - in zone 3 - to the city at peak times. Off peak, that same journey costs $2.22. If these recommendations are accepted, the off-peak cost would increase to $3.17.

The recommendation is unfortunate, but necessary, according to the council’s transport committee chair, Thomas Nash.

“The environment we're in right now for public transport funding is pretty bleak. We have been building up our reliability, level of service, frequency and, as a result, our bus ridership is at record high levels in Wellington.”

“But unfortunately, the current government has changed the funding settings for public transport in a way that makes it much, much harder for us to continue to do that.”

Thomas Nash is chair of Greater Wellington Regional Council’s transport committee.

The council is also expected to adopt the suggested inflationary increase to peak travel fares. At 2.25%, this would take that Island Bay to city journey to $4.53.

Proposed decrease to the off-peak discount

Greater Wellington is currently the only region in the country to offer an off-peak discount - which is 50%. The council officers’ proposal would reduce that discount to 30% of the peak fare.

According to the recommendations, this change could result in a reduction to off-peak travel in the region. But the impact of that reduction would be substantially smaller than the impact that keeping fares unchanged would have on rate payers and debt funding, officers say.

Their recommendation is also favoured over an across-the-board fare increase, because that would make peak prices less competitive compared to other travel options like private vehicles.

It comes just eight months after a 10% increase to all fares, which entered into effect last July. Councillors voted in favour of that move last year to bring them in line with inflation.

Thomas Nash says “something has to give” in the current fiscal environment.

But it is necessary to keep the services running and the council’s head above water, Nash said.

“We know that this will hurt, but we really don't have any choice. Something has to give.”

“We're trying to improve our financial position in the face of very constrained fiscal environment from the government, which is making it very hard to operate.”

Thanks to government cuts, Nash says

Thomas Nash said the challenges are coming from every angle.

“Inflation has gone up, insurance has gone up, the cost of living has gone up,” he said. “Public transport contracts are more expensive to run now.”

Former-transport minister Simeon Brown directed a clear policy shift away from public transport funding.

That, coupled that with a clear direction from the government that riders should be paying a high proportion of operating costs, leaves the council with little wiggle room.

“The government’s financial assistance rates fund essentially 51% of your operating costs. That's what ultimately pays for driver wages, keeps buses on the road, and covers everything else involved in running public transport contracts,” he explained.

“As a large funder of public transport, they have a lot of control over what happens.”

The New Zealand Transport Agency provided regional councils with their proposed “private share targets” - meaning the amount of a transport network’s operating costs that are funded by passenger fares, advertising revenue and enforcement fees - last year. Nash said those presented to Greater Wellington Regional Council were “completely unachievable” and “not connected to reality”.

“We're still talking to the New Zealand Transport Agency about them … hopefully, we can land in an area that is more realistic,” he said. But those aside, this week’s changes are unavoidable.

Any changes voted for on Thursday would be implemented from 1 July to align with the start of the council’s financial year.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated with the correct percentage for the increase to off-peak fares for trains and buses.