Andrew Dickens: Auckland Transport needs to get it together

On Friday just before most of us came back to work Auckland Transport announced that public transport fares on the rise from February 1st.  They’re going up by 5.1% which is higher than inflation, but they claim transport costs have risen by up to 16%. Meanwhile parking costs in AT controlled buildings and areas are going up by 50 cents an hour.  For adult commuters, this means a 10 to 25 cents increase per bus or train trip, and 40 to 60 cents more per ferry journey. Now I understand prices go up but I’m not sure that AT realise the consequences. I use a ferry. In fact, I used one on Saturday to go to a Sail GP watching party.  That meant I spent $15 return. From February 1st it’ll be 16 bucks. That’s all very well if it was just me. But if I took A partner that’d be 32 bucks return. And that’s getting very close to a price point that says I can’t justify using public transport. If there three of us I might as well just get an Uber.  But that defeats the purpose of public transport which is to get cars off the road. I also wondered what the thinking was that meant the Southern line from town to Ed Sheeran was closed for maintenance. This was a chance to let people experience alternative transport options. Instead, people ended out in buses clogging up the motorway and some North Shore residents were still trying to get home at 2am and it reinforced the idea that not just trains are unreliable. AT get a load of bad press, but it’s not helped if they keep shooting themselves in the foot with their decision making. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.