Pensioners fear losing concessions on afternoon travel

SuperGold card-holders everywhere can travel free at weekends and during off-peak hours on week days - at an annual cost to the Government of $28 million. Photo / Supplied

Auckland pensioners fear losing free public transport in afternoon travel peaks under a review of concessionary fares next year.

The Auckland Transport review follows Government concern about the afternoon travel break, given that it is unavailable to pensioners in other regions.

But Grey Power says greater distances and complexity of travel around Auckland justify the extra concession.

SuperGold card-holders everywhere can travel free at weekends and during off-peak hours on week days - at an annual cost to the Government of $28 million.

But Auckland pensioners can also do so between 3pm and 6.30pm under an extra concession funded by the Super City's council and Government for bus, rail and subsidised ferry services.

Exceptions are Fullers ferries on the Waiheke-Auckland run, from which the Government withdrew its 50 per cent share of the afternoon concession in July, leaving the ferry company making up the difference.

The Government still pays $1.6 million for pensioners to travel to and from Waiheke at off-peak times, money which until now went to Fullers but will be extended to new ferry operator Explore from New Year's Day.

Explore says it will cover the cost of free travel for pensioners between 3pm and 6.30pm, until Auckland Transport decides early next year whether it should receive council funding restricted to Fullers for now.

But any such decision risks being overtaken by the council body's wider review of concessionary fares.

Auckland Grey Power branch president Anne-Marie Coury fears rising general patronage on the city's buses and trains will put extra pressure on the afternoon concession, given the growing numbers of "baby boomers" turning 65 and obtaining SuperGold Cards.

"Often people are getting frustrated because the buses are full, and so are the trains, at certain times," she said. "So I think they [Auckland Transport] are seeing this [review] as a really convenient way of dealing with several things in one hit."

But Ms Coury said removing the afternoon concession would hit pensioners hard, especially those using public transport for medical appointments or to fetch grandchildren home from school.

Auckland Transport's Metro general manager, Mark Lambert, hopes recommendations from the review will be ready to go out for public consultation by mid-2016.

He said no decisions had been made yet, but the greatest pressure on Auckland's public transport was in the morning rather than afternoon travel peak.

Mr Lambert said Auckland Transport was likely to consider Explore's case for a share of council funding "early in the New Year", ahead of the wider review.

"That is just to keep an equitable playing field," he said.

Neither was there any suggestion Fullers may lose its council funding as part of the preliminary exercise.

But Mr Lambert could not rule that out as a potential result of the wider review of concessionary fares.

He said a review of the afternoon travel concession for pensioners - within the wider exercise - was flagged in a variation this year to Auckland's regional public transport plan.

SuperGold Card

NZ-wide

Number of card-holders - 662,000.

Travel entitlement - free public transport on weekends and during off-peak hours on weekdays - between 9am and 3pm, and after 6.30pm.

Auckland

Number of card-holders - 178,000.

Travel entitlement - free public transport on weekends and from 9am on weekdays, including between 3pm and 6.30pm.