ARTA’s monthly business report for July 2010 has been uploaded to their website, and once again it makes good reading for public transport – in terms of patronage growth, improving service reliability and significant progress being made on capital works projects. Here’s a summary of what’s been going on:
Starting with patronage, the “Rapid Transit Network” (rail and the Northern Busway) once again shows fantastic growth, with the 20% growth on the Northern Express services being pretty amazing. I wonder when that’s going to hit a ceiling in terms of peak time capacity. It’s also positive seeing ferry patronage go up again, as it has been a bit all over the place in recent times. While bus patronage is increasing, the rate of increase is much slower than rail or the Northern Express. With many of the large rail projects now nearing completion (aside from electrification which is just kicking off) I think we have a real opportunity and need over the next few years to focus most strongly on ways to improve the bus system and get more people off the roads and onto our buses – after all that’s where 80% of our public transport patronage is.
Here’s the patronage trends over the past few years – you can really see from around March 2008 there has been a steady but unrelenting climb in the “12 month rolling average” patronage – to over 5 million trips a month (hence breaking 60 million trips a year):
Some service refinements have been made for buses, or are due to be made in the next short while (for which consultation has recently concluded). Of particular interest to me is this extract on upcoming bus route changes:
City Circuit, The Link & Western Bays Services
Work is progressing on proposed service changes to the City Circuit, Link and Western Bays services, all operated by NZ Bus. This includes proposals to change the route of almost all services listed and improve the running times on services around the CBD. Further consultation is to take place in the near future before proposals can be finalised.
This would include my regular bus routes, so it’ll be interesting to see what ARTA comes up with. I’ve previously blogged about my thoughts on how Western Bays routes could be simplified. I’m not sure what changes would benefit the Link Bus though – perhaps sending it along Fanshawe Street rather than Victoria Street to provide better access to Wynyard Quarter?
In terms of other points of interest in the monthly report, it’s useful to see that progress is being made on the implementation of real-time information signs at various railway stations across the network. Hopefully in the not too distant future we will all know exactly when our train is due to arrive:
Looking through the report, it seems as though a lot will be happening on September 19th. Not only does the Onehunga Line open and the new rail timetables take effect, but other changes to various bus services (those consulted recently) will also happen on that day. It’s shaping up to be an important step forwards in improving Auckland’s public transport system.
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Surely integrated ticketing (hopefully not the Snapper version) will see patronage on buses rise. I was just down in Wellington – couldn’t believe how much faster the cards make boarding.
Nothing wrong with Snapper as you found through first hand experience. What is lacking is the application of this system across all forms of PT.
More good signs showing that if you invest in improvements people will use them.
Lucy – we are still about a year away from the initial roll out starting and even then it is just the pilot phase.
Its great how their starting to make bus and train timetables match up- I think it will boost patronage and make the system far more efficient if buses feed trains at New lynn, Papakura, Glenn Innes, Manukau and Onehunga. Integrated ticketing is crucial for unlocking the potential though.
I also wont be surprised if this works the other way on the Western line with integrated ticketing too… Its probably quicker for a lot of people who work Uptown, midtown and in the University precinct to transfer to a bus at Grafton or Mt Eden. This would even buy us some time to build the CBD loop as all these people wouldn’t need to use Britomart, and they could make the long hoped for South-west line services more viable too.
A general question about integrated ticketing; there is the monthly go-anywhere card, and then there is the daily ticket. Would value people’s views as to how well these products work in practice. Also, what do the individual companies do to provide integrated ticketing for their own services alone?
Ross –
“Integrated ticketing” and “for their own services alone” are mutually exclusive, therefore that is not possible.
Are you confusing “integrated” with “smartcard”?
NZ Bus is rolling out Snapper on their buses, it would seem at the same time as the integrated ticketing effort but separate from it. This is a smartcard but not at all integrated, as it’s only for their own company’s services, and on their terms for any other company that signs up for it.
What’s coming from ARTA / Auckland Transport is an integrated smartcard ticket.
My Discovery Monthly pass is an integrated pass, but it is not a smartcard. There’s no onboard electronics to make it smart, but it’s valid across all Auckland urban services (excluding some ferries) so it is integrated. The Northern Pass is similar in this regard, it’s an integrated paper ticket.
Snapper is a smartcard but it is operator-specific, therefore it is not integrated. Other operators, should they wish to accept Snapper (the card), have to negotiate with Snapper Services (the company) individually. This is taking quite some time in Wellington, where it’s valid for travel on some bus and ferry services, but not other bus services nor rail.
No, I’m simply using a narrower definition of ‘integrated’ than what you are.
Perhaps a better question is how much additional patronage we will expect to see as a result of a move towards integrated ticketing. Since I’m not in NZ, if someone could clarify please whether the expected growth in demand is more from (a) lower average fares for an end-to-end journey or (b) the convenience factor from having a single ticket.
My hypothesis is that the operators are suspicious of cross-operator integrated ticketing, because none of them see it as being to their commercial advantage. In other words, they don’t expect to make money on it. Fair comment?
When Thales spoke to the CBT they said most cities where integrated ticketing is implemented see a growth in PT use of about 7-15%
The rolling average is interesting, I think we can expect that to continue right up until the completion of integrated ticketing and electrification/new rolling stock, what happens after 2014 is anyone’s guess…
CBD Tunnel half finished hopefully.
In 2005/06 RTN accounted for 10% of all public transport use, it’s now at 23.8%. People like rapid transit, it would seem (even if the Western line isn’t, well, all that rapid)
“right up until the completion of integrated ticketing and electrification/new rolling stock, what happens after 2014 is anyone’s guess…”
Replace the “steady” with “massive” and the “unrelenting climb of PT trips” with “explosion in PT trips”. I’d be surprised if the sparks effect didn’t instantly (i.e. within a months or three of being rolled out on any particular line) give us a 20-30% boost – and then continues to increase steadily.
“CBD Tunnel half finished hopefully.”
They won’t even have finished the planning by 2014. Seriously. If all went quickly (not with this government!), we might see tenders being awarded around 2014 for some initial works. I’d consider construction start near the latter half of this decade more likely.
Remember that we will still have to overcome a massive barrier at national level (either with a change of government, or with a change of heart). The first option of overcoming it is anybody’s guess whether/when it will occur – for the second option, the patronage boosts due to integrated ticketing and electrification will play an immense role. But they will have to occur first, for National to consider jumping on the bandwagon. That’s why I consider it will be a good while yet before we will see it happening.
“They won’t even have finished the planning by 2014. Seriously. If all went quickly (not with this government!), we might see tenders being awarded around 2014 for some initial works. I’d consider construction start near the latter half of this decade more likely.”
Part of me knows that already, part of me is still dreaming.
Just like the ARC and the previous Labour government needed the Britomart effect to get their ass into gear to start the current round of upgrades nearing completion (west double-track and SAs), the Nats will likely not properly get behind actual construction of the CBD loop until they are faced with undeniable proof of the sparks effect actually happening.
Here’s the thing: the trend is unstoppable, SJ and the ranked motorway crazies are now fighting a losing battle against the CBD loop. He will delay like mad and try to split support by demanding that ratepayers fund it all. It will be painted as a luxury not an infrastructure investment and the rest of the country will be encouraged to see it as Auckland being selfish and greedy, not like how they are in the ‘Heartland’: Like the wise investors of Timaru [1.7b- that should cover it]. But the momentum is all pointing one way. Yay, build it and they will come indeed.
On another note, a motorway project I support, well one I half support. Can’t we please get some pressure on the miserablists at NZTA to see that putting one side of a motorway underground doesn’t make it go away. The best value for money around on any project anywhere at the moment is the 70-80m that Fletcher offered to completely bury the Victoria Park M-way. Yes both ways, a really high value outcome. The NZTA explain that the current project is happening because the existing shitty and park-ruining structure has ‘cancer’. Well pull it down then, dweebs. Don’t waste our money fixing the vile thing. We won’t get this chance again, especially after they’ve put more life into it. It must be someone’s pride and joy; look how quickly they got on to whipping down the Newmarket one, or is it because that is being replaced with another bridge, is it that they’re worried if we aren’t forced to look on their works everyday we might stop lavishing them with the money to build everything twice [at least]?
These pieces of infrastructure have a 50 – 100 year life, even when oil runs out they’ll still be bio-diesel, solar and electric cars still running around, we’ll just replace critical roads rather than every stupid road that’s ever been built…
Patrick, I think NZTAs reluctance to do the second half of the Victoria Park tunnel is because the expect to have a second harbour crossing complete before the terminally ill viaduct finally kicks the bucket. The harbour crossing will render the existing VPT largely useless, let alone a second one.
Don’t follow you Nick, as I understand it the VP tunnel[s] lead directly to the proposed harbour ones…. how else does SH1 get to the seafloor? They have plans to build it all again somewhere else? Really?
NZTA’s reluctance to do the right thing by the citizens is because the dull math heads have no way of calculating complexities outside of vehicle movements per hour, like the considerable quality of life value of having our park back. [Or perhaps more generously they haven’t been charged with taking a sufficiently wide enough view of the outcomes of their works]. Sorry if I’m being a little harsh but I guess until we insist on putting a dollar value on more difficult to count but very real consequences of our infrastructure decisions we will continue to end up with the crappy mess we have now. I’m sure NZTA have all sorts of justifications that make sense within the narrows of their backward looking, truck and car focussed world view. But in the end they should be trying to improve the places they alter at all levels not just autistically focussing on enabling a bit more tin to move a bit more often.
Perhaps they don’t think this is their business? Well why is so much of the Waterview project so [pleasingly] underground. Public pressure. It matters a hell of a lot to us the people that the city is not further degraded by their works. We do live here and, sometimes, we aren’t in a vehicle. Even.