Auckland Public Transport Fares to Rise

 

Well I managed to personally stave off a fare rise for AT-HOP care users in September last year (Fare Increase Ctd) for rail users. However, this time no such luck – you are going to be lugged with it this time around.

From the NZ Herald this morning after AT announced it last yesterday

Students bear the brunt of Auckland public transport fare rises

Auckland Transport has been accused of targeting students with public transport fare rises that will also affect thousands of Hop and multi-trip ticket buyers.

Auckland Transport – which waited until late yesterday to announce changes approved by its board two months ago – will lift cash fares for tertiary students by between 7c and 40c a trip on June 3.

Adults who use Hop cards on trains or 10-trip tickets on buses also face fare rises of 2c to 22c a ride.

Ten-trip tickets on inner harbour ferry trips such as from Devonport, Bayswater and Birkenhead to the city will also rise by up to $2, but water transport will become considerably cheaper for Hop card users.

A single trip fare for a Hop card user from Devonport to the city will fall from $5.40c to $4.10c compared with an unchanged cash price of $6, but ten-trip tickets will rise to $41.

That is to align Hop cards with multi-trip tickets, which Auckland Transport ultimately wants to scrap in favour of seamless travel across ferries, trains and buses.

Public transport operations manager Mark Lambert said close to 50,000 public transport users could be affected. The changes were required before Hop cards were rolled out to the city’s buses between June 23 and November, he said.

Auckland Council transport chairman Mike Lee asked why fares could not be aligned downward, particularly on trains.

“It seems the most loyal passengers are being targeted – students and those taking multiple trips.”

Auckland had the highest public transport fares of any Australasian city and students were “a key part of our market”, he said.

Mr Lambert said an increase in the student discount from 20 per cent to 40 per cent in 2008 proved highly effective in lifting demand and getting cars off the road, but there was a limit to ratepayer subsidies.

Auckland University Students’ Association president Daniel Haines said the fare rises appeared aimed at those who could least afford to pre-load Hop cards for multiple trips.

He said transport was the second highest cost facing students, after accommodation, and the increases would hit those who faced long trips from suburbs offering lower rents.
• For detailed information about fare changes, visit maxx.co.nz.

I remember fighting tooth and nail to retain the existing fares seen here below rather than having AT-HOP users pay a technical rise as AT were to flat line the discount rates at 10% right across the board

Savings with AT HOP

	Adult			Child/Accessible			Tertiary
	Cash fare	HOP fare	You Save!	Cash fare	HOP fare	You Save!	Cash fare	HOP fare	You Save!
1 stage	$1.90	$1.60	16%	$1.10	$0.90	18%	$1.90	$1.10	42%
2 stage	$3.40	$3.00	12%	$2.00	$1.70	15%	$3.40	$2.10	38%
3 stage	$4.50	$4.05	10%	$2.60	$2.29	12%	$4.50	$2.79	38%
4 stage	$5.60	$5.04	10%	$3.40	$3.00	12%	$5.60	$3.47	38%
5 stage	$6.80	$6.00	12%	$4.00	$3.55	11%	$6.80	$4.21	38%
6 stage	$7.90	$6.90	13%	$4.50	$4.05	10%	$7.90	$4.75	40%
7 stage	$9.00	$8.00	11%	$5.30	$4.75	10%	$9.00	$5.58	38%
8 stage	$10.30	$9.05	12%	$6.10	$5.44	11%	$10.30	$6.38	38%

 

I believe the new fare guide is not out but reading the material from AT properly you have:

• Cash fares remaining the same
• AT-HOP card fares going up as the percentage discount level is lowered across most if not all areas.

So rather than targeting the cash users and hiking the cash fares (if the actual fares did need to go up in the first place) which would move people over to AT-HOP, Auckland Transport go and hit “the little guy” who is already on AT-HOP. Ouch and nasty!

The AT-HOP fare rise also seems to be the exact opposite of the Deloitte HOP review would suggest

 

One wonders what the thinking was behind the latest move?