- By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter funded by New Zealand on Air
Auckland Council is calling for Auckland Transport to reevaluate after a proposal to significantly increase ferry fares next year.
At a recent meeting of the council’s transport, resilience and infrastructure committee, Auckland Transport (AT) presented its proposed 2025 public transport fare increases.
AT’s board has approved several measures in the fare reform including reducing fare zones from 14 to nine, capping the fare table at four zones, and removing off-peak discounts.
AT also proposes an increase to ferry fares by $1.40 for inner, mid and outer ferries.
Monthly passes for each will increase as well with the Waiheke ferry having the largest increase at $49 for a total of $419.
AT’s growth and optimisation group manager Richard Harrison said operating costs for public transport have increased massively and it’s playing catch up following Covid-19.
“The changes we’re working through now are really about addressing the inequity of people who have to travel further particularly as the city expands,” Harrison said.
He said the fare structure review was not about increasing revenue.
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said the council was driven to get more people on public transport and noted how AT’s quarterly report showed public transport boardings were slightly below the target.
“Petrol prices are slowly declining. Have you undertaken economic analysis about the impact of the rising fares on patronage or is the demand for public transport regarded as relatively inelastic,” Simpson asked.
Harrison responded that fares did not have a drastic effect on patronage but was expecting a slight reduction as a result of the change.
“We’ve had something like an eight million boarding increase in the last year and patronage is continuing to grow,” Harrison said.
Councillor John Watson said outer harbour ferries were already expensive and the fare structure change would increase the costs even further.
“We get to some pretty big sums – if we take that monthly pass [for ferries], it’s going up $40. That’s over $5000 a year,” Watson said.
“We’re getting up into some pretty big sums of money for the type of travel we know we don’t perform well in.”
Watson questioned whether it was fair to compare operating costs of ferries to other modes of transport, as ferries don’t use roading infrastructure, don’t contribute to congestion on the road, and were less expensive than the infrastructure required for rail.
AT’s public transport and active modes director Stacey van der Putten said they needed to make ferries more sustainable from a funding perspective.
“Ferry is disadvantaged from a higher running cost perspective, therefore the fare in terms of farebox recovery, is considerably lower in proportion to the other modes,” van der Putten said.
“When we actually look at true costs, you [Watson] are right. We have a free highway in terms of the harbour, but – we need to follow what is put out for us by NZTA.”
Watson said a member of his community was using nearly 40 per cent of his student loan allowance towards ferry fares.
“He’s travelling by the ferry. There is no $50 cap, there is no tertiary concession,” Watson said.
He urged AT to look at ways to increase patronage which would positively impact the fare recovery of ferries.
The committee formally requested that the AT board review the proposed fare structure for ferry travel.
