Auckland bus and train fares rise 'will deter 830,000 trips'

Wednesday, 23 January 2019

The decision to lift Auckland public transport fares by up to 7 per cent is forecast to cut trips by 830,000.

The estimate, in a paper to Auckland Transport's board members, means there would still be a growth in patronage but says it would be lower than if fares had been frozen.

Mayor Phil Goff has rejected that forecast by his own council's agency.

'I'm uncertain as to whether that is the trade-off. I think there are far bigger issues around what happens to the rise and fall of public transport, than what you are looking at with a 1.9 per cent average fare rise,' Goff told Stuff.

Auckland bus and train users face fare rises of up to 7 per cent next month.

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Auckland Transport's board had hoped to freeze fares to encourage more motorists to leave their cars behind, but failed to get a funding boost from the council or NZTA to cover the revenue that would be lost.

The AT board paper argued one of the reasons for the freeze was to meet the stated desire of both the council and government to switch more motorists to public transport.

An estimated 830,000 more public transport trips would have been taken in Auckland if fares froze

While the average fare increase is 1.9 per cent, 22 per cent of trips are two-zone journeys where fares will rise 4.5 per cent for most passengers, and 7 per cent more for tertiary students.

AT's chief executive Shane Ellison contacted the mayor's office in December in a last-ditch effort to explore the council providing half of the shortfall.

But when Stuff asked Goff for the detail of what had been sought, the mayor replied: 'I have no idea.'

Goff said the December approach had not reached him personally.

AT dropped the approach to get more money from the council when its co-funder NZTA declined the bid.

The board paper showed AT faced a $15 million funding gap in the public transport budget, and would claw back only $3.7m of that through the eventual fare increase.

Goff said the sum sought to fund a fare freeze was not huge but it was just one part of Auckland Transport's budget problems.

'We will have some major challenges this year with the construction costs of public transport, and the demand for the expansion of services, and demands to improve the quality of it,' he said.

The mention of 'construction costs' could be a pointer to a significant increase in the cost of building the downtown rail tunnels, known as the City Rail Link.

There has been an angry response from some Auckland councillors to the move to raise fares.

'Mayor Goff needs to look into a mirror if he wants to know why public transport fares are increasing,' said Manurewa-Papakura ward councillor Daniel Newman, referring to the council's 11.5 per cent regional fuel tax brought in last year.

'There's nothing fair about the fare increases when child and tertiary fares take the brunt of increases, with 6 per cent and 7 per cent annual increases for child and tertiary compared to 3 per cent increases for adults,' said North Shore councillor Chris Darby.

Minister of Transport Phil Twyford declined to be interviewed by Stuff but used Twitter to reply to those who criticised the funding rebuff from the Government agency NZTA.

'I've asked NZTA and AT to produce an evidence-based mode-shift plan for Auckland, to move people out of single occupant vehicles into public transport. Happy to consider all levers including frequency and convenience of services, and fares,' Twyford tweeted.

Auckland Transport said it faced a wide range of rising costs, and said its needs for the next financial year starting in July would be discussed with Auckland councillors next month.

Goff was adamant that whatever funding pressures come from AT, his 2016 election pledge, and the proposal for the council's next budget of a rate rise no higher than 2.5 per cent, would hold.

Councillors can still set rate rises at whatever level they choose, and serious debate won't occur until May.