Editorial: Freeze of Super travel start to curbing excess

The Government deserves some credit for capping the cost of the Winston Peters indulgence. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Ever since the Labour Government gave Winston Peters the SuperGold Card the question has been not if but how and when a future government would can it. We need wonder no longer. With the cost having blown out from $18 million to $28 million a year since the card's introduction in 2008, and projected to be $40 million a year by 2020-21, the present Government has put a cap on it. Funding will be frozen at $28 million plus inflation for the next five years.

This means the pressure will be transferred from the Government to regional councils. Instead of reimbursing the council for every free trip taken by cardholders, the New Zealand Transport Agency will allocate the $28 million in annual grants to the regions. It will be a condition of the grant that councils will provide free off-peak public transport for cardholders and somehow the councils will need to cope with superannuitant numbers rising at a rate of 29,000 a year.

Plainly something will have to give. Councils will have to restrict the hours of free travel, the distances, the transport modes available on the card or, heaven forbid, subsidise the cost from their ratepayers. The Government clearly wants no part in the hard decisions that have yet to be made. Even as it announced its cap on card funding last week, it preferred to highlight the lifting in September of its moratorium on new transport services that could offer free trips on the card.

That means the new Waiheke ferry operator Explore will be able to tender against Fullers for the SuperGold business and Mr Peters is likely to get his wish for the card to be available on ferries in the Bay of Islands and Hokianga Harbour. If the Northland ferries are contracted by the regional council and included in a regional public transport plan, they will be eligible. Again, it is the council that may face the tough decision.

Funding for the card on Waiheke and Devonport ferries has also been capped at its current level, though the tender for the Waiheke run should reduce the cost of fare reimbursements. Competition is bound to bring return fares and other concessions into the bidding.

Further savings for the councils might be gained from a new requirement for SuperGold cardholders to use smartcards as they become available. Auckland is the first region to have adopted a transferable card for multiple bus companies but other urban regions are expected to follow suit. SuperGold holders will need to buy a smartcard, at $5 to $10, so their travel can be monitored but will not be charged a fare.

The Government deserves some credit for capping the cost of the Peters indulgence but it will be councils, particularly the Auckland Council, that will deserve the applause if the SuperGold Card is restricted to need.

Free off-peak bus or train travel is a fine benefit for senior citizens who might not otherwise afford it very often. But the vast majority of those reaching 65 do not need it, and they know it. Excessive benefits are easy for politicians to deliver, much harder to trim back. But this is a start.