Budget 2010: Pensioners to keep their travel perks

Steven Joyce. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Pensioners can count on at least another four years of free off-peak public transport, according to Budget projections.

These show a commitment to the SuperGold Card travel scheme until 2013-14, at an estimated cost of $18 million a year. When Labour introduced the scheme just before the 2009 election, on the initiative of New Zealand First, it made a budgetary commitment of $72 million to keep it going for just four years.

But Transport Minister Steven Joyce said last night that the National-led Government had an "ongoing commitment" to the SuperGold Card's transport concessions "and this was reflected in today's Budget".

Although the scheme's costs remain under review, after indications that its popularity with pensioners means it will exceed funding allocations if left unchanged, the Government has promised entitlements to free transport will not be cut.

That followed an outcry from Grey Power in March after Mr Joyce said the eligibility of certain high-cost services, including the Waiheke ferries on which card-holders took $2 million of free trips last year, would be considered by officials.

In apparent anticipation of streamlining administration costs as a result of the review, the Budget has cut next year's allocation for these from $1.1 million to $700,000.

A Transport Agency discussion paper on the scheme's review reported complaints from pensioners in some regions that their off-peak travel benefits were not as generous as those enjoyed by Auckland's senior citizens, who are entitled to ride on buses, trains and ferries free of charge in the afternoon peak hours as well as between times.

But the Auckland Regional Council shares half the cost of that extra concession with the Transport Agency, meaning Mr Joyce believes it falls outside the scheme and it is therefore up to the council whether to keep paying.

The regional council resolved last month to defend Auckland's more generous entitlement, for which it has included a contingency liability of $2.2 million in its draft budget 2010-11 to cover its share of afternoon travel. Regional chairman Mike Lee said that although the scheme was "a wonderful social benefit for our senior citizens", it should be managed more rigorously.