Integrated ticketing scheme faces delay

Auckland's $145 million-plus integrated ticketing project aimed at boosting public transport patronage has been held up, days before a deadline for the Government's Transport Agency to approve a preferred tender.

The agency yesterday confirmed that a report needed before it could approve the flagship project would not be available for a monthly meeting of its board in Hamilton tomorrow.

That could have serious implications for the project, as three short-listed tenders prepared for more than $1 million each are due to expire on Tuesday.

All three tenderers were contacted urgently yesterday by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority - which is relying on a 60 per cent Government subsidy for the project - and asked for permission to extend the validity of their tenders.

Authority chief executive Fergus Gammie was unable to say last night, before receiving responses from the New Zealand, Australian and French firms, whether the delay would increase project costs.

"At this stage any future impact on project cost is not clear," he said.

The project was until now expected to cost the Government and the Auckland region up to $80 million to establish, and then at least $6.5 million to run for each of the first 10 years.

It was seen as an important key to boosting public transport by allowing passengers to pay just one fare regardless of what combination of buses, trains or ferries was used for any journey.

But the latest setback adds to uncertainty already surrounding Auckland public transport, caused by the Government's sudden decision to ditch a regional fuel tax intended to pay for $508 million of electric trains and $202 million of other capital projects including new railways stations and ferry terminals.

Although the Government has promised to pay the full cost of Auckland's $1 billion-plus electrification project, rather than just the half-share it inherited from Labour, its removal of the tax has forced the regional council to consider handing control of all its trains and railway stations to KiwiRail.

That prospect, raised in haste by the council to allow an amended draft budget to be forwarded to the Auditor-General in time to allow public consultations to begin early next month, was to have allowed the

Auckland Regional Transport Authority to retain responsibility for ferry terminals and the integrated ticketing project.

The Transport Agency would not disclose reasons for the delay last night, other than to say it was pending the conclusion of a review of the project procurement process and associated funding requirements.

But it is understood an investigation by an independent "probity auditor" into a complaint by one of the tenders, Auckland bus fleet owner Infratil, is not behind the hold-up.

The government agency approved funding in October for the construction phase of the project, at an estimated capital cost then of $70 million and with annual operating costs of $6.5 million, after accepting advice from officials that it was "integral to the development of public transport in the Auckland region and from a national context".

But it took until last month for the Auckland Regional Council to approve its transport authority's preferred tender, that of the French company Thales, for up to $10 million more than the October capital estimate.