No cash on buses from mid-2024

Friday, 27 October 2023

Environment Canterbury staff say an increased level of demand on public transport is “beyond the current level of resources available”. (File photo)

Christchurch public transport users will not be able to use cash on city buses and ferries from mid next year.

The move has prompted concerns about the impact on those who prefer to use cash, especially the elderly and homeless. The proposal also defies a survey that found three-quarters of public transport users believe cash is important.

However, Environment Canterbury (ECan) staff say cash handling is consistently raised by drivers, operators and unions as an issue for driver safety and wellbeing, and that it makes sense to take advantage of the roll-out of a new nationwide public transport card to rid the system of cash. The National Ticketing Solution (NTS) will be introduced in Canterbury first in mid-2024.

According to a report to councillors, there had been an increase in incidents and complaints about safety, particularly at the central city bus interchange, and incidents on buses had also “increased significantly” in 2021-22 compared to previous years.

Operators reported 21 robberies or attempted robberies on buses in the year ended June.

ECan said not all the incidents involved drivers, and a small number were not cash related, but all were considered serious and could have ongoing implications for drivers.

The number of incidents at the central Christchurch bus interchange has increased, ECan staff say.

Other moves to improve safety included increased security at the bus interchange, updating the code of conduct, including de-escalation in driver training, and a “network safety team” trial to be delivered next year.

At present, ECan charges users twice as much for tickets paid for with cash than for trips using Metrocards, as 'an incentive to pay electronically'. It acknowledged the move away from cash would impact revenue, but believed the expected growth in bus users under the NTS would mitigate this.

According to research conducted as part of the NTS project, 31% of Canterbury public transport users surveyed paid by cash for at least some of their trips, although an ECan survey showed only 12% of passenger trips were paid for with cash.

The NTS research also showed 79% of all Canterbury public transport users considered cash payments important.

At present, 22 customer service centres in places like the bus interchange, libraries and tertiary institutions allowed people to purchase Metro cards.

This could grow to at least 200 sites - expected to be dairies, convenience stores, supermarkets and possibly other education institutions - selling pre-paid cards and allowing top-ups once the NTS begins.

Christchurch Grey Power president Anne Ferrari said she thought the move could cause a lot of problems.

“Most elderly people don’t like the cashless society.”

She said many senior citizens already struggled with the rate of technological change, and she knew of a number of people who withdrew cash for shopping and other expenses, because they preferred it to paying by Eftpos.

Ferrari said she was more concerned about any possibility of the new government removing SuperGold card subsidies, which gives seniors free public transport outside of rush hour.

Brenda Lowe-Johnson from Collective for the Homeless said she was annoyed the council hadn’t consulted with her organisation on the issue, which was “just another thing” that would make life difficult for some of the city’s most vulnerable.

It can be very difficult for people living on the street to get bank accounts, she said.

Christchurch’s buses could come back into public hands.

The move came as the council this week approved an additional $600,000 to address “an increased level of demand … beyond the level of resource available”, “an increasingly complex work programme” and the “resource load” of being first council in the country to roll out the ticketing scheme.

Staffing and recruitment were also problematic as the council worked to fill positions to support the NTS, leaving the organisation under resourced in several “fundamental” areas.

Direct contracts or consultants would be engaged over employing more staff as they were seen as “the most efficient way … to be productive in as short a time as possible”.

ECan corporate and public transport service director Giles Southwell said the team had an “enormous” workload, “exacerbated” by being the first council to roll out the NTS.

The council also approved spending up to $500,000 over two years to develop a business case for ECan taking “strategic control of public transport assets”.

The proposal follows an amendment in August to the Land Transport Management Act that allows local authorities to hold an interest in or acquire the ownership of public transport services and infrastructure.

The council also agreed to engage with Waka Kotahi to make Timaru’s MyWay on demand service trial permanent. The trial was originally slated to end in June 2024.