Public transport back on track but there’s a lot more to do

Thursday, 18 September 2025

Have your say in the comments section

Thomas Nash is a regional councillor and transport chair for Greater Wellington. He is stepping down in October after two terms on council.

OPINION: Wellington public transport has set a lot of records this council term. In a good way. Busiest ever day on public transport, busiest month, busiest 12 months, longest period of reliability over 99%, most kilometres of bus priority added in a council term, etc.

That’s not to say we are where we need to be. There’s a lot still to be done, especially on rail. But as we wrap up this term, we leave things better than they were three years ago. Our final Transport Committee meeting this week offers a chance to look at what we’ve achieved and what’s still on the to do list.

The most important achievement has been restoring a reliable bus service. Three years ago, hundreds of buses were cancelled every week. Last month we had 99.8% reliability and we’ve had 99% reliability for 18 months now. This was a huge team effort, involving sustained engagement between bus companies, drivers, unions, Metlink and central government. Bus patronage is now at record highs.

Hosting the August 2023 Women’s Football World Cup was a challenge while reliability was still recovering, but Metlink delivered a massive 200,000 passenger trips with integrated ticketing for the tournament. The lessons learned from this tournament were put to good use on the busiest day ever in the history of Wellington public transport, hosting the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti in November 2024. With 160,000 passenger trips in a single day our buses, trains and ferries ran smoothly, if tightly packed at times.

The change of government resulted in the cancellation of mass transit for Wellington and severe defunding of public transport infrastructure plans - to the tune of $130m. Pressure to increase the “private share” of public transport funding has driven fares up and put pressure on existing services. Fortunately the council managed to reduce fare increases from a potential 71% hike to a 2.2% increase in line with inflation.

Despite all this, Greater Wellington and Wellington City Council have doubled the number of kilometres with bus priority measures in Wellington during this term of council. The new Harbour Quays bus route will go out for consultation in November, paving the way for construction in 2026. This new waterfront route will save serious time for bus trips through the central city and provide new bus stops for destinations currently not directly served, like Te Papa, Tākina, Te Ngākau Civic Square and Queens Wharf.

Electric articulated buses are now on their way to Wellington thanks to Wellington City Council making the road layout changes and Greater Wellington finalising procurement with Kinetic. Operation will start between Karori and Courtenay Place in 2027, helping Metlink double ridership to 6 million passenger trips a year on Route 2, Wellington’s busiest route, over the next decade.

Restoring public ownership and control of bus depots is well under way with land secured by the airport, in Ōwhiro Bay and in Porirua. The development of these new bus depots is already having a positive effect on competition ahead of our forthcoming bus contract tenders.

Preparing those new bus contracts has been a major task this term, with a focus on correcting the problems with existing contracts. Key improvements will include sequencing the tenders over three tranches from 2026-28; introducing new baseline requirements and performance indicators; establishing a new reporting and enforcement regime; and the new asset control and bus depot strategy. Greater Wellington continues to work closely with unions and bus companies to build on recent progress with workforce pay and conditions.

The Waterloo Station upgrade is progressing to remove the ageing canopy and provide a more accessible and attractive station that encourages transfers between bus and rail, connects better with the surrounding area and encourages commercial development around the station. The Waterloo project is part of a wider transit oriented development programme for the region, with Johnsonville and Porirua stations next on the list.

Support for this transport oriented development work was confirmed through Greater Wellington’s new 10-year Regional Public Transport Plan. This plan also advances bus priority work, phasing out cash on buses and reflects community aspirations for better public transport in places like Wainuiomata, Ōtaki, Porirua, Tawa and Ōwhiro Bay. It grapples with land use and public transport planning, resolving to “promote more efficient land use and urban development that maximises access to public transport services and minimises the cost of delivering them”.

Regional passenger rail in New Zealand took a major step forward when the council signed a contract with Alstom for 18 five-car battery electric trains. The new Tūhono trains will quadruple services to Palmerston North and double services to Masterton from 2030.

This all relies on KiwiRail continuing the extensive track infrastructure maintenance and renewal work that causes regular and unpopular rail replacement bus services. Metlink has been working on improving communications, forward planning and introducing live tracking of buses on the real time information system, hopefully in time for summer.

Looking ahead, Metlink’s focus should be to maintain excellent bus services, to turn around declining rail patronage and to build stronger relationships with communities, businesses and local councils.

Next term will be busy: letting new bus contracts; getting the Harbour Quays bus route up and running; new electric articulated buses commencing service; and upgrading Waterloo, Johnsonville and Porirua stations; managing the transition to the Government’s National Ticketing System; and improving accessibility of the network.

There’s a lot to be proud of over the past three years, but the task ahead is to maintain a focus on high quality, reliable services that improve people’s every day lives. That’s the key to securing more funding and continuing to build trust in public transport. The past three years show it can be done.