Auckland Transport hiking fares across buses, trains, ferries

• Auckland Transport is increasing the average public transport fare by 5.2%.
• The 10% off-peak discount will also be axed.
• Auckland fare zones are being merged from 14 to nine.

Aucklanders who use public transport face rising fares for many routes with discount off-peak travel to be scrapped.

Auckland Transport (AT) announced a series of pricing changes that will come into effect February 2 and increase the average bus, train or ferry ticket cost by 5.2%.

Director Stacey van der Putten said the move was to offset substantial increases in operating costs.

The changes will increase the average bus and train fare by 15c to 25c and ferry journies by 20c to $1.40.

AT will also be removing the 10% off-peak discount, as it said it did not have the intended impact.

The off-peak reduction was introduced in 2021 to help manage public transport capacity at peak hours.

The average fare is set to rise by 5.2%. Photo / file

The $50 seven-day fare cap for public transport users and the $20 daily fare cap for contactless payment will remain in place.

Along with the fare increases, AT is reducing the number of zones from 14 to nine.

These changes will make it cheaper for people travelling the longest distance, it said.

The newly merged zones are:

• East Coast / South Rodney zone, combining Helensville, Huapai, Hibiscus Coast and Upper North Shore.
• Northern Manukau zone, merging Manukau North and Beachlands.
• Southern Manukau zone which combines Manukau South and Franklin.

In addition, bus or train users won’t be charged for travelling over more than four zones of travel, even if they go across five or more.

Ferries will also be given separate fare prices, with adult tickets increasing by $1.40 per journey.

AT director Stacey van der Putten said the changes would offset substantial increases in operating costs.

“We know any increases add to people’s cost of living and so these are carefully considered, however, the cost of running, maintaining and investing in Auckland’s public transport network is also increasing and we need to keep up with this,” van der Putten said.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic we had two years when we didn’t increase Auckland’s public transport fares despite a sharp increase in operating costs and we’re now effectively playing catch-up.”

The changes to the bus and train zones are AT’s biggest adjustments in nine years, and come as Auckland is in the middle of its first train shutdown, with none running until January 27.