Passengers waiting at a bus stop in Wellington. Photo / Supplied
Bus fares will increase by 6 per cent across the Wellington region as hundreds of services remain temporarily suspended and commuters face ongoing cancellations.
The fare hike has been labelled unavoidable by Greater Wellington Regional Council.
The council has not raised public transport fares in the past two years; meanwhile, the costs of high inflation, Covid-19, and efforts to tackle the national driver shortage have started to bite.
Costs have increased by about 13 per cent over this time.
Transport Committee chairman councillor Thomas Nash said regular and smaller fare increases were unavoidable under current funding settings.
“Ideally, we want to keep fares as low as possible to encourage people to use public transport. But we also need to have the money to improve services so we can provide a service that is more convenient than driving.”
Nash noted the increase will happen in conjunction with additional discounts for off-peak travel, as well as for students and children.
Fares would still be lower for some of those who rely on public transport the most, Nash said.
The Government’s half-price fares scheme remains in place until July 1 and after that, those with Community Services Cards would have permanent access to half-price fares, Nash said.
The average increase to a single adult bus fare will be between 10c and 20c once half-price fares end the council’s 6 per cent fare increase is in place.
“We are still attempting to keep fares affordable for those facing the rising costs of living,” Nash said.
Earlier this month Metlink officials admitted they didn’t properly assess the effect of a reduced bus timetable in January before it was introduced- a move which left passengers packed into buses like sardines and stranded at bus stops.
The public was given just one day’s notice that most Porirua and Wellington City buses would be running on a Saturday timetable for the entire month.
The timetable was a 20 per cent reduction in services on top of the more than 200 services already temporarily suspended.
Metlink officials also acknowledged their communication “could have and should have been done in a timelier manner” to allow people to plan ahead.
“Time constraints meant that insufficient analysis was undertaken on potential patronage levels. This led to unanticipated capacity issues on certain routes at certain times directly impacting customers,” officials said.
“As soon as this became apparent, officers worked hard with independent bus operators to increase capacity on these routes.”
The reduced timetable was designed as a breather as the region continues to struggle with a shortage of 120 bus drivers. About 650 bus drivers are required to run the full network timetable.
It allowed for holiday leave and vital recruitment and training over January when patronage is generally low.
But as more Wellingtonians returned from holiday last month, it became increasingly clear the Saturday timetable was untenable.
One bus stop had about 120 people waiting at it one morning, while some commuters in Brooklyn gave up altogether and worked from home.
Metlink was forced to reintroduce more buses to its network early to urgently boost capacity.
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