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Auckland transport regulators insist passengers will enjoy better services under legislation which the region's main bus operator warns may see investment drying up.
The Auckland Regional Transport Authority says it will move fast to take control of both commercial and subsidised bus and ferry operations, after Parliament passed the Public Transport Management Act under urgency yesterday.
Authority customer services chief Mark Lambert said from Melbourne last night that this would provide better use of the $93 million of public subsidies which Auckland Regional Council and the Government have budgeted for bus services in the region this financial year.
But NZ Bus, which has taken over the former Stagecoach fleets in both Auckland and Wellington, says businesses will become less willing to invest in public transport because the legislation will allow the authority - or regional councils in other centres - to do away with commercial services and take "unfettered" control.
"This is a backward step for the travelling public," said chief executive Bruce Emson.
"Should we lose control of our business, there will be no incentive to innovate or invest."
He said operators would be obliged to focus on the lowest-cost provision of the lowest-standard service as defined by regional authorities, making it harder to persuade New Zealanders to get out of their cars.
"All investment in better services, new technologies and buses would be at the expense of ratepayers or not happen at all."
Bus and Coach Association chief executive Raewyn Bleakley said many members were very concerned about their future.
"I have been in touch with most of the large operators throughout the country today and it's clear they will all be looking carefully at investing in new capital and taking business risks in the uncertain environment they now face," she said.
But Andrew Ritchie of Ritchies Transport, which runs the booming express service along the Northern Busway under the close contractual oversight of the transport authority, does not share such fears.
Mr Ritchie, who also operates commercial services in Auckland and elsewhere, said he was happy to work under whichever regulatory regime was in place as long as the authority became geared up and secured enough funds to cope with the extra work.
Mr Lambert of the transport authority said subsidised services already accounted for 75 per cent of Auckland's bus activity, and he was confident the rest could be handled without extra cost.
He believed running the region's bus and ferry services would remain attractive to private operators, as they would be paid performance incentives for boosting patronage by meeting quality benchmarks.
Transport Minister Annette King told the Herald the law would prevent private operators from "cherry-picking" the best routes and leaving gaps in services elsewhere.
