Bus-driver lockout hits passenger numbers

October's dispute has had a long-lasting effect on patronage figures for Auckland's buses. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Auckland's public transport patronage - which rose to a 25-year high in 2008-09 - has taken a hammering because of of October's week-long lockout of NZ Bus drivers.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority says a lacklustre 0.4 per cent increase in patronage for the six months to December 31 is almost entirely the fault of the industrial dispute between the Infratil subsidiary NZ Bus and the bus unions, which culminated in the lockout.

That result will make the authority's annual growth target of 4 per cent hard to achieve, having stalled the momentum raised by a 7.7 per cent increase in patronage to 58.6 million boardings of buses, trains and ferries in the year to last June.

In its half-year report to its Auckland Regional Council parent, the authority recorded a 1.7 per cent decline on bus services other than the Northern Express, run by Ritchies Transport and not involved in the dispute.

As well as estimating a loss of 978,000 bus-passenger trips in October, the authority reports continuing low patronage over the following two months.

By December, patronage was still 0.3 per cent lower than the same month of 2008, although a separate report from the authority shows it rebounding by 3.1 per cent in January.

In driving away almost a million passengers during its seven-day lockout of 875 bus drivers and cleaners, NZ Bus forfeited $1.1 million in subsidies from ratepayers and the Government.

The workers lost $1.15 million in wages, but recovered about $475,000 from a contribution by the transport authority to resolving the dispute.

But the half-year report shows that the Northern Express, which runs shuttle services from Albany to Britomart via the Northern Busway, had patronage growth of 19.5 per cent against an annual target of 15 per cent.

Rail patronage also rose markedly, by 6.2 per cent on the western line and 9.5 per cent on the southern and eastern lines.

The transport authority attributes at least some of that growth to passengers who migrated from buses to rail during the industrial dispute and then chose not to swap back again.

Ferry patronage was up 6.1 per cent for the six-month period. Most of the increase was on Devonport and Waiheke services popular with SuperGold Card holders able to travel free after 9am on weekdays and all day on weekends.

A decline of 8.1 per cent was reported for school bus services, many of which were also hit by the industrial dispute, although the transport authority suspects changes to the number of school days may also have influenced the figure.

The authority noted a 3 per cent decline for all of 2009, and intends making a more detailed analysis of children's use of public transport through its TravelWise programme, which has now spread to 194 Auckland schools.