Finance Minister Grant Robertson will need to be on top of his game to land one of the most difficult Budget balancing acts New Zealand has seen for years. Join us live from 2pm for the delivery of Budget 2023 with expert analysis and commentary. Video / NZ Herald
The Government has announced major support in Budget 2023 for young public transport users, electric vehicle infrastructure, and New Zealand’s battered state highway and railway networks.
Free public transport for children under 13 and half-price discounts for people under 25 are in the Budget, but for other commuters, half-price public transport is due to come to an end on June 30.
Transport Minister Michael Wood said making public transport free for children will make it easier for them to get to school and could save $30 a week for a household of two children.
Half-price fares for under 25s, as well as Community Service card holders and Total Mobility users, will benefit 1.6 million people and make it easier for people to get to go where they need to go, he said.
Free and half-price public transport is part of the Budget. Photo / File
Mika Hervel, a spokesman for the Free Fares campaign, said the measures to extend cheaper public transport are a step in the right direction.
“It is awesome to see the Government invest in young people and recognise the climate crisis.
“Keeping half-price fares for under 25s is a great way to lock in benefits from the [half-price fare] scheme and help address the cost of living for many people,” said Hervel, saying the group would continue to encourage the Government to go further.
As well as extending half-price public transport for those under 25, the Budget enables public transport agencies, like Auckland Transport, to raise the base rate for bus drivers from $28 an hour to $30 in most regions across the country.
It also provides for the introduction of $30 for each split shift and penal rates for bus drivers working after 9pm. Long days and low pay have been a big factor in a prolonged shortage of bus drivers in Auckland and Wellington, forcing passengers to crowd on to fewer services.
In another transport announcement, Wood said the Government is spending $120m over four years to partner with the private sector to build thousands of new EV chargers across the country.
Boosting the number of EVs on main highways and in communities is included in the Budget. Photo / Alan Gibson
“This will see charging hubs every 150km to 200km on main highways, a public charger for every 20 to 40 EVs in urban areas, and public charging at community facilities for all settlements with 2000 or more people.”
A further $30m has been set aside to provide grants for low-emission heavy vehicles, including trucks, heavy vans, and non-public transport buses.
Another $279m has been set aside in the Budget to make state highways more resilient against severe weather events, like Auckland’s Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
Wood said the money would focus on slip prevention, flood mitigation, and managing the risk of sea level rise.
Projects include slope stabilisation at various SH1 locations, including Long Hill, Saunders Rd, and Kaiwaka in Northland, upgrades to pumping stations at Mt Wellington and Pukekohe in Auckland, and managing the risk of coastal inundation on SH26 at the top of the South Island.
The Budget has set aside $279m to make state highways more resilient. Photo / File
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency chief executive Nicole Rosie told an infrastructure conference this week the transport agency had costed resilience plans for the state highways four years ago at about $500m and only spent $14m “because that’s all that’s been allocated to resilience”.
She said the state highway system was eroding and at a tipping point.
KiwiRail will receive an extra $370m to repair its railways and consider how it could expand the national rail network, which could include building a new freight/passenger railway line between Avondale and Southdown on designated land set aside in the 1940s.
As part of the “Future of Rail” programme, KiwiRail has been asked to prepare “a detailed business case for electrification of the North Island Main Trunk line”.
The bulk of this funding, $383 million worth, would arrive in 2025.
