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Auckland bus and train fares are rising.
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A selection of your latest views follows:
Nicky
These price jackings are infuriating for me as a non-driver living on the North Shore and working in the City, as it's not like I can just walk or cycle over the Bridge, nor are there any trains or ferries as alternatives. It's like they want us to drive! At least with the ability to control the radio, temperature, departure times and routes in a car, any extra money would be well spent.
Graham Fleetwood
Instead of increasing fares, all bus and train journeys in Auckland should be $2 per journey and then set that in concrete for 10 years. Along with some much needed expenditure in rail and bus infrastructure maybe then we will really start to see some greatly increased patronage.
Brent
What the ARC and others seem to forget is that most of the Auckland region is not near a train station, and the trains are not a cheap form of transport. Most people have a car anyway, so the more accurate cost comparison is fuel and parking, at which point buses and trains start looking quite dear. Factor in the time, and I will not use a bus or train - it would add another 1 to 2 hours to my day, and I would still have to drive to the station. I have used the public transport service, and nothing was cohesive - journey a does not seemlessly connect to journey b etc. Finally, I am one of many people who are required to have a vehicle at or for work purposes. I have to drive.
Anthony Arthur Alexander
Match each fare percentage increase to equal reductions to Auckland Regional Council and Auckland Regional Transport Authority management remuneration. Index future remuneration increases for five years to decreases in transport costs per km per capita, rather than to the cost of living.
Glenn Welch
I'm rather at a loss as to why we are going in this direction with a rise in fare. Pretty obvious steps need to be taken to improve the public transport system before it will be embraced by the masses (especially those with cars). Such steps, among others, would be to electrify the rail network (greater speed and leaving fossil fuel behind) and (for a lesser note) remove that stupid cross over at the Newmarket station for west bound Trains. Also removing parking from the first 2 stages of all main routes should be a priority as it is ridiculous to have arterial roads (2 lane roads like Symonds Street, New North Road, Mt Eden road and Dominion Road) strangled by parallel parking, especially when it is difficult for cars to get in or out of them without causing problems for other traffic.
Kat Jenkins
Putting up the cost of public transport in Auckland is terrible. With the increased concern for the environment these days this is not going to encourage people to take the bus or train. People think with their wallets and act with their feet. I highly doubt this measure will put more bums on Auckland's public transportation. Coming from Wellington I can't belive the amount of fumes I am subjected to every day coming from cars containing only the driver and, to be fair, busses belching out awful black smoke. Then to attempt to hide the rises from the users of public transport is despicable. The regional council should have been informed of the rise as they are the ones who may be able to offer alternative means of funding and the publicity should be well over and above the Auckland Regional Transport Authority's efforts. This is another in a string of reasons that make Auckland by far the worst place I have ever lived> It's embarrassing that while the rest of the world is beginning to accept climate change and take steps to combat high levels of CO2, the Auckland Regional Council is effectively actively encouraging people to use excessive private, rather then public, transport.
Trish H
The price increase in public transport is stupid and unfair. How can they keep putting up the price of public transport when it's so unreliable, the buses and some trains don't arrive on time everyday, the some services from bus drivers is crap and they want us to pay more? This price increase and the unreliability of New Zealand transport is not going to stop people taking their cars to work. This is a majorly pathetic idea especially if they want people to use public transport more. It's bad enough that Auckland is one of the most costly areas to live in, and they seem to keep putting prices up on everything. That's why young people move overseas, New Zealand is just turning into a pit where it costs you an arm and a leg to get anywhere. I think they should just scrap the increase, and just put the prices of fares back down to the original prices they were before, do everyone a favour.
Roger Norman Fowler
They just don't get it, do they? Faced with chronic traffic congestion, record pollution levels, rising fuel costs, and climate change, the one thing Aucklanders Don't need is increased fares on public transport. Yet that's what we've got. Bus fares, already among the highest in the world, are up by an average of 7.8%, while for trains the average rise is 15%. This was done by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority without any consultation with the ARC, which is supposed to be the publicly elected supervisor of ARTA. This lack of democratic oversight is endemic in local body governance across greater Auckland. It shows how we must fight for more democracy if we are going to make a real difference around important issues like transport. To get the bulk of Aucklanders out of our cars, we need to take bold, innovative action: fares on public transport should be eliminated. Stop wasting funds on xtravagant motorways, and urgently upgrade public transport with a new vast fleet of modern, low-emission buses and more user-friendly trains.
Fare-free and frequent public transport could rapidly transform Auckland into a clean, green, mobile, 'world class' city.
Yvonne Hamer
When Britomart opened, I tried commuting by train - there is a 40 minute peak time gap in the timetable between the city and Ellerslie. At the time I submitted a detailed email describing what needed to improve to keep my custom (including cleaning the trains regularly). I received a detailed reply but no action. To my knowledge the peak time timetable that runs through Ellerslie and Newmarket has never been improved. Many people on the trains do not pay and are not asked to pay their fares. This is easily avoided in these overcrowded trains. I have resorted to private transport. This added insult will send more people like me back to their private transport!
Shantanu Verma
It is really amazing to see the upcoming rise in bus and train fares when the government is trying to encourage more people to use public transport. The hike in price would have been justified if public transport services in Auckland improved, but when every single day buses and trains are running a little bit late during peak hours is the rise really justifiable? My view is improve service and increase prices. Bottom line is no one would be happy paying more for same service.
Paul Minett
My company, Trip Convergence Ltd, has developed a car pooling business system that is on the web at www.hoverport.org. We want to trial the system in Auckland. While we are getting support from some Councils we are not being supported by ARTA. Carpooling would be a less costly way of reducing the traffic, and we've figured out how to make it easy to do. It will surprise people to find out that the most expensive buses are the ones at peak time that are full, where there is no work for them the rest of the day. You will have seen them parked up along Tamaki Drive. All the costs of ownership and operating continue whether they run or not. Rather than having so many buses working only at peak hours, ARTA could reduce costs by implementing HOVER throughout the region. This would reduce peak-hour demand and change the whole cost structure. Also the number of cars on the road would be reduced, so there would be less traffic for everyone.
Lindsay Waddel
I'm a ex- Aucklander who used to take public transport when I lived there. It was bad then and it sounds like it is even worse now. I now live in Brisbane and use public transport [I do have a car and I do ride a bike to work as well that is another story] I travel 18 km to work, half on the train the rest by bus it takes about 50-60 mins. If Ipay cash the train is about $5.50 return and bus $5.00 return per day, less $ if you buy weekly ticket. The trains never run late and the bus only about 5 min late. I know there are no trains on the North Shore but that is no reason to have a bad bus system it can be fixed. Just a little effort is needed have a look at www.transinfo.qld.gov.au
Kevin Henderson
I have been a rail commuter for around 9 months now.
In doing so I have felt quite good about sacrificing the daily crawl for the greater good, and a (slightly) lighter wallet. Not any more! The balance has been tipped back in favour of motorway madness. Thanks ARTA, for leaving that familiar bitter taste in the mouth that is the Auckland way.
Ian Morine
Yet again the powers that be see an opportunity to raise bus and train fares just as there is an increase in patronage, I would have thought that this was a perfect opportunity to keep fares the same - an increase in people using the service, assuming the service remains the same, equates to an increase in profits surely ?????? Just when the government wants us to use public transport more, the companies that run these services increase the cost to the user - the poor overburdened NZ tax-payer gets hit yet again, right on Christmas too!! As for the argument of increased wages for the people that run the buses and trains, surely increased patronage would also cover those increased expenses or has the greedy Kiwi mentality taken over again, right on Christmas.
Hayao Kitagawa
I caught the train 4 stages from where I lived to the city everyday for 3 years while at Uni and it just got more expensive and more expensive as time went on. However they trains are always late, or sometimes they are early and then leave early and you have no choice but to wait for the next train which means you might be late for class. Maxx or whatever they are called now don't offer a very good service therefore the price raise is 100% unjustifiable. I live in Tokyo now where I travel roughly the same distance by train (subway) as a 4 stage journey in New Zealand and its about 40% cheaper, 100% better organised and the trains are never late! I would like to hear what justifications they have.
David Harte
Outrageous. What the hell is we doing in Auckland in regard to public transport. Its appalling service is now matched with its outrageous costs.
Elizabeth Farrell
I am an Aucklander now living in Freiburg, Germany. Freiburg has one of the most reliable and advanced public transport systems in Germany. The buses consistently connect with the trams and trains, and the transport provider guarantees the connections and delays of more than 30mins are compensated with free tickets. A single trip costs NZ$4. A full price monthly pass however costs around NZ$80 - an area reaching France to the West and almost to Switzerland in the South. The student semester ticket costs a little over NZ$100. I also study in the State of North Rhein Westphalen. The Student semester ticket here costs NZ$160 and covers the entire state!!!! The price of NZ$596 for the new semester ticket being offered by Stagecoach is absolutely outrageous. How any student can really afford this on top of the average University fee I have no idea! I was very upset at the state of public transport in my home city when I visited in Feb 2006. My family having recently moved to South Auckland I experienced to my horror the daily commute into the city. I had unfortunately forgotten to bring my gas mask for the Southern Motorway! Perhaps the city council should look to Germany for models of what could be possible in Auckland City. A reliable infrastructure of trains and/or tramways must be put into place with reasonable prices so that Auckland can continue to function as a vibrant city that continues to offer a high quality of living for its residents.
Jonathan Swanston
Sorry but I have to laugh sitting here in London reading about everybody complaining about the price rise. To be honest it wouldn't be natural for people to welcome a price rise. However I would like to know what the price of a new head gasket or a couple of tyres is compared to a monthly Discovery pass. AND what a predicament all the stingy drivers are going to be in when the ARC implements a congestion charge like London. For once Aucklanders stop thinking about yourselves and just pay the pitiful payrise!
Russell Mercer
It is patently clear to me that the council and government want me to drive a car to work. They are making more roads so my car is more effective. They are making public transport unaffordable. But I will not succumb to their foul attempts to destroy my world. I will doggedly walk long distances through bad weather, pay a ludicrously high price for public transport, put up with noisy, leaky, badly maintained buses because maybe one day they might realise this world is actually worth keeping.
Gary Marchant
I hope they also increase the grade and frequency of service to go with the prices increases. I live close by the Kingsland train station and work across the road from the Remuera station. I tried using the train to and from work for about a month earlier in the year. This involves changing trains at New Market. I couldn't purchase one ticket for the entire journey and was told it was because they were different lines, even though it is the same company. That aside, the trip to work was fine. The trip home from was quite often not. Sometimes waitng at the Newmarket station for the Waitakere train for 30-40 minutes. Also knowing which train is going to Waitakere and not Britomart is a bit confusing, as some didn't have it written on the front of the train. If you didn't ask the conductor then you didn't know. They should have some electronic signage up to indicate each trains destination as it comes in. There were also express trains, which of course don't stop at all stations, so were only of use to some people standing on the platform. With the inconsistent times of the trains on my return journey, I decided to drive again. It is not far for me to drive and I know that 15-20 minutes is all that it takes me on average in the car. I would use the trains again if service was improved. I like a lot of other Kiwis lived in London for a few years and used public transport on a daily basis. Yes, they do have a much bigger population using public transport, so therefore generating more revenue for the transport companies. But with a much improved service here with the appropriate advertising, I am sure a lot more people would use the public transport available.
Michael Andrews
Your poll asked if we would use the bus if the price goes up. The reality is, if you use the bus now a 7.8% avg rise won't make a difference. I suggest that most of your 'NO' respondents probably don't actually use the bus now. I think the poll should be something different, like "Privatising Public Transport - a scourge or not?" My vote would be yes, a great scourge - shame on ARC/ARTA/MAXX or what ever they call themselves.
Heidi McHolm
Hey I don't care what I have to pay under $2 as long as it arrives on time. I don't want to be late for work again.
Ted Dixon
Bus fares rising. Can Auckland get public transport more wrong? Increase the fares on a system that barely works as it is. Auckland has one of the highest public transport costs in the world and one of the worst traffic problems. Government needs to make this more affordable and more efficient.
Jodi Johnston
The increases in the rail fares are reasonably understandable. The rail fares are presently lower than bus fares of comparable length and if there is any hope for integrated ticketing, then the rail fares and bus fares must be equal. Also, although fuel costs have decreased, they are the same as they were the last time fares were changed (this time last year), there has been increases in wages which the bus firms need to account for. I am surprised that few people have looked at that aspect of the fare increases. I doubt that it would put many people off rail. The central city (where most rail commuters go) still has expensive parking and in most cases rail still offers a significant speed incentive, for example from Panmure to Auckland is about twenty minutes, something no car can achieve even outside of peak hour.
Rebecca Aarons
I think this is shocking! Good old Helen wants us to stop polluting the country and use public transport, yet the prices keep going up and up? How does that make any sense at all? With increases like this is it cheaper for me to drive my 2L car, into work by myself and pollute this country even more that it already is than it is to catch the bus! Which looks like is how most people feel!
Mark Hamilton
This is disgusting. Another price hike, with petrol prices dropping? And our government seems to wonder why the % of people using public transport is cheaper. I live in Beach Haven, and work in Newmarket, and it is cheaper for me to drive, and with these price increases, why should I get out of the car to catch a bus? Contract random diseases from other people, contend with the Bus (always) being late, bah.
Liz Burgess
I was really disappointed to read about the bus and train fare increases for Auckland. Most people have seen the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" which has highlighted the dire need to reduce carbon emissions and yet, everyday as I'm waiting for my bus on New North Road I count the cars going past that have only one person in them and feel like being sick. Raising the price of fares will do nothing to encourage people to use public transport. Other countries in the world are investing in their public transport systems by making it accessible for everyone. In London, although it may take five hours, people can travel from one side of the city to the other for only one pound twenty. When I convert the costs to the NZD I can only get from central Auckland to St Lukes Shopping Mall. In Holland, a pilot programme allowed everyone to use public transport for free, for a year, in an effort to encourage it's usage. New Zealand seems to be powered by baby boomer rugby heads, who can throw a billion dollars at a rugby stadium but think the environment is for the "emos" (New Goths) and "vegetarians" to clean up. Well baby boomer rugby heads I have news for you, the rest of the world plays soccer and they call it "Football"!
Nick Stewart
As far as I'm concerned I think it's expensive enough as it is and to put the prices up even more is just a joke. The buses are never on time and sometimes never show up. Why should we pay more for something that's doesn't meet our needs. I am now thinking on driving my car depending on how much the prices will rise.
Mary Hall
I am interested to know how they calculate the cost of driving a car from Papakura-Auckland return as being 3 times the cost of train travel. There are some major vehicle costs that we have to pay regardless of the distance travelled eg. registration and insurance which shouldn't come into the equation. I use the train but I still have to drive to the station and home again.
Dennis Keith
More public transport fare increases! What a cost plus, brain dead decision. Most domestic industries and other service providers ditched this attitude to pricing in the mid-1980's when they entered the real world. Why is it that local government and its minions seem to be the only entities that never changed and still can't see the wood for the trees? Oh dear, how sad. The car remains firmly ensconced as the only reliable and low cost means of transport in the Auckland region. Long may it continue until those who charge horrendous fees for low quality and tardy service believe they are doing otherwise.
Penny Soo
This is broad daylight robbery!! It is very oblivious that the price hike has not been discussed beforehand. Public transport is supposed to ease lives of Auckland commuters but it is now otherwise. For example,the cost of public transport in Germany is similar but they are very reliable and efficient.
The price hike is putting Auckland public transport's popularity a step backwards, if not a few. This is such a nice Christmas present for all Aucklanders!
Sam
The increases for ticket prices are justified for trains only. There has been a huge increase in services over the last 12 months and for the most part, trains are fast(ish), clean and tidy, and most importantly, on time. The increases for the bus tickets are unacceptable given that there have not been any real increases in services, the Link is still hopeless and Stagecoach seems incapable of connecting a single bus to the train service. Seeing as Stagecoach have such a huge share in Fullers, it would also be nice to see an increase in frequency of the ferries. But I suppose we will have to make do with a 3rd world service at 1st world costs.
Kathy
What a bunch of robbers. These people need to be sacked. "Use more public transport" they say, yet they are pulling this kind of stunt. They are just as idiotic as the Transit people for putting the ramp signalling on the motorway. Come on ARC, do something about it. You are elected to be on the council to serve the people of the region not to serve the commercial companies who runs Auckland Transport business so their profit can be protected.
Haden Hansen
It's a disgrace. I could travel the same distance at Downtown to Henderson in Dunedin for $3.40, Yet in Auckland the prices have been hiked to be over $5? How exactly can they justify this. I catch the trains a lot but this price rise is going to make me reconsider.
Chris Randal
I believe that the train fares are being increased because ARTA are embarrassed at the overwhelming success of the campaign to attract passengers to rail, especially in the peak periods. As ARTA has been unable to source motive power that can pull 5 or 6 car trains, and been guilty of underestimating demand so that there are not enough carriages to make longer trains, they are now actively discouraging passengers from using rail. This, of course, will force the Government to decline the request for electrification, so we are back to square one.
Bryan Miller
Even after these increases, bus and train travel is still well below the full cost of car travel. An all-zones monthly pass will be $170 on Stagecoach and $160 on Veolia (or $210 Discovery pass for all buses and trains and most ferries). My running costs for commuting by car are $242.84 per month (excluding other usage), with parking of $7-$13 per day on top of that. Petrol alone is 8% more expensive today than it was 12 months ago. My commute time by bus or train are consistently around 50 minutes, but by car can be anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes. The rail service has improved markedly in the past year. The new timetable means trains run on time more often. All bus companies have been introducing new air-conditioned bus as quickly as they can be built, and the newly r-emanufactured air-conditioned train carriages are quieter and smoother than the old diesel units.
Micheal Haviday
Since the initial drive for commuters to be using public transport rather than personal transport. I made the effort to change. I had noticed that my cost of travelling increased 2 fold. I stuck at it and made silent bus buddies where we would nod our heads if we saw each other. With bus lanes all over Auckland, this drive for transitioning people from personal to public transport seemed to be working and heading in the right direction. However upon reading the new this morning, I will be driving my car in tomorrow.
Rosemary
This is ridiculous. How can they expect people to catch the bus if it keeps going up, soon it will be just as cheap to drive and you wont get the inconvenience of missing your bus, or having to walk a fair distance to get to work. I think they need to lower the bus fair, as enough people catch the bus to cover the petrol costs.
Natasha Barker
So again commuters are being punished because we need to catch public transport. Not a good way of getting people onto the buses and trains, another good reason to find a cheap reliable car instead. Thanks for nothing.
Rory MacKinnon
This morning I waited fifteen minutes for a bus to work. Then I was told on the display screen that the bus was delayed. Then, another ten minutes later, the display screen told me the bus would be another thirty-five minutes. When I finally arrived at work over an hour later, I found on the front page of the Herald that you would like me to give you an extra $1.40 a day for this service- only a year after the last fare increase. It seems public transport is becoming increasingly privatised at the expense of being public-spirited.
Liz
I drive to work everyday cos it's cheaper. This is just going to make my decision to continue doing this more permanent. They should be lower the price to promote people using the service not increasing it to deter people.
Mike
Motorways that don't work because they are too congested, substandard, inconvenient public transport. Lets put the prices up, that makes sense. Is the service going to improve? I'll leave that up to you. Is public transport cheaper than driving and parking in town? Maybe, but I still have to drive in congested traffic for over half an hour to get to the nearest train station and then leave my car there hoping that it won't get stolen or broken into. Could I take a bus? Nope, I can't afford it. How about making public transport more attractive, and not just in monetary terms. Where do we get the money from? I don't know but we seem to be able to fund plenty of roads that aren't going to fix the problem.
Frances
I think the fare increase for busses are disgusting. It's not like the bus service is that great to begin with. It's frequently late, or a service is suddenly cancelled. You're left waiting 30 minutes for the next bus, which is then over-crowded. I thought British Rail and London Transport were bad, but NZ has an even worse public transport service.
Morgan Bellis
Thank you very much Stagecoach, I already pay $5 for a 4 stage ticket into town. Now you are asking a student to pay more? Thank you so very very much. You will only accomplish putting more people off the
buses.
Joshua
The price rise will force me to hop in my car rather than catch a train or bus. Although it may be still cheaper, it is narrowing the gap. The convenience factor must be looked at and with prices going up convenience will overtake cost. The only reason many people actually get out of the house walk to the bus/train is for cost reasons, raising the price will only cause them to take car instead and encourage those already in cars to remain in cars. Yet we are trying to encourage public transport. We should encourage instead of discourage.
Richard Brice
Just like the Stadium, Auckland is not serious about being a real city. Does council need a lesson in economics, it has to be cheaper for people to use it not more expensive than taking a car. Surely costs for subsidising the transports system would balance themselves out over the extra pollution created and roading required for the extra population and hence cars on the road?? What a joke.
Kent Millar
This year, it was cheaper to travel by car into the city and pay for all day parking than it was to catch a bus. Now, public transport is simply not an economically viable option. How do the powers that be expect to encourage commuters out of their cars and onto public transport? Now we have exorbitant bus fares to go with the pending road tolls (you know they will happen!). How much longer before it becomes economically viable to NOT go to work?
Stuart Nicholson
Bus prices have been rising regularly, while the service quality improves in no way at all. Public transport in Auckland via bus is a farce. I catch buses too and from work each day and am regularly disappointed because scheduled buses simply fail to arrive, or a series of 2-3 empty buses drive past the stop moments before I reach it. Continued price increases are going to do one thing and one thing only: perpetuate a vicious cycle that drives people away from public transport to alternate private means.
Paul Lewis
As my wife and I both work in the city it is already cheaper to run the car into town than public transport and that includes parking and road tax I have worked it out. Occasionally we have used the train and found them late and at peak traffic time only 5 or so minutes quicker than the motorway from West Auckland, sure the double tracking might solve this but with the mentioned price increases no way will we use them we already pay a couple of dollars more a time as it is. All respect to the staff that work on the trains (they appear to do the best they can and have to put up with all the complaining about the train being late) but from my experience in the peak times 5 to 15% of the passengers don't end up paying due to the conductors missing them. I wouldn't want anyone to lose a job but some automation and job restructuring would probably bring in more extra revenue than putting the prices up. The last time I used one I over heard one Max employee on the train talking to another about how the company pays his $50 taxi fare to get to work when he has to be at a certain place, I looked down at my 10 trip pass and though I just paid his taxi fare for one days work. If I did that at my work we would have to put our prices up no one would buy and we'd be broke within a 6 months. Idiots is all I can say I guess if I want to use the train again I'll have to wait till some collective intelligence kicks in.
Carol Cosgrave
What a surprise, after the petrol and diesel prices have started to come down, public transport prices go up. When I started purchasing the Monthly all stages pass in October 2004 I was paying 119.00, now I am paying 159.00. That is a 40 dollar increase per month in 2 and a bit years. I do not earn enough to buy, let alone operate a car, it looks like they are pricing me out of a bus as well. How the hell are we supposed to get to work to earn our pathetic pay, to pay for these rich fat cats to make a huge profit? Not only that, the level of so called "Service" we the poor commuters have been getting has dropped so low sometimes I'm left sitting at the bus stop wondering if my damn bus is going to show up. Which it often doesn't. The only excuse I get is "traffic". Well, if the buses were cheap convenient and pleasant to rind in we might not have such a damn big traffic problem. Out here on the South Auckland routes, if you are not catching an express, we tend to get the buses that I swear have been dug out of storage form 50 years ago. They are damp, mouldy and stink of rotten carpet and leak like Swiss cheese when it rains, that's if the windows actually manage to stay closed if the bus goes over 50K's an hour. And to make matters worse, we used to be able to purchase 3 months of monthly pass at one time, that has now been stopped and we can only top up if we have less than 10 days on our card. I wonder why that is??? Could it be so that when they give us our 5 days notice of another price increase, we cannot save ourselves a little money by stocking up for a couple of months at the lower price. Nice huh.
Justin Ellis
While I can understand the pressure of increase costs for running public transport it is a slap in the face to those who use the system. The aim of the ARC and other council
