The day after the letter from John Key saying that the government still doesn’t support the CRL, Auckland Transport announces that the rail network has reached another milestone. Over the last year there have been more than 11 million trips on the rail network and it’s the first time we have reached that mark. That’s significant for a few reasons:
- It continues the recent trend of strong patronage growth and shows that March Madness is living up to its reputation.
- It finally ends our almost two year post RWC patronage hangover, something that helped fuel the arguments of those opposing the CRL like Cameron Brewer.
- It has come in advance of the electrification which will only make services even more attractive.
Here’s the press release.
Thanks Auckland – you’re one in 11 million
Aucklanders are getting on board with trains in record numbers – making a record 11 million trips in the past year.
This milestone comes just weeks before Auckland’s new electric trains are introduced and is the highest number of passengers ever on the current rail network.
Auckland Transport chairman Dr Lester Levy says Aucklanders are using public transport more than ever as improvements to services make it a more attractive option. “We are now seeing 5,000 additional passenger journeys each business day compared to a year ago. People are responding to initial improvements such as integrated ticketing, better on-time performance and improved facilities like the new transport hub at Panmure and there’s a lot more to come.”
When Britomart Transport Centre opened in 2003, just 2.5 million trips were made on trains.
Auckland Mayor Len Brown says the milestone is very welcome.
“One thing is is certain with regard to public transport in Auckland. If you build it people will use it. I am confident that now integrated ticketing is in place and as our new electric trains go into service, this won’t be the last patronage record we will break.
The implementation of the New Network and the City Rail Link will also boost numbers.”
Transdev operates the trains for Auckland Transport. It says it is pleased to see that its major focus on performance over the past 12 months is translating to improved patronage.
Transdev Managing Director Terry Scott says “We are working hard with our partners at Auckland Transport and KiwiRail to improve network performance and we are striving every day to achieve excellence in the customer experience.”
Dr Levy says the upward trend in numbers is pleasing given that during the past year rail services have been regularly disrupted due to electrification works on the network. “We are making strides with an ageing fleet of diesel trains which are now 60 years old, just imagine what we will do with new trains.”
Based on the announcement my guess is we’re on track to set a new monthly record too which is great. It even makes me wonder if we could finally pass Wellington for patronage sometime this year.
Bring on the electric trains.
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Congrats Auckland! And I’m hopeful that the full rollout of electrification does for Auckland what it did for Perth. Imagine what is ahead, especially if the CRL gets built.
Its not a matter of if CRL is built, but when.
It is also a question of what impact will any delay with CRL have on the overall PT network.
And this is with growth like this, on crappy old trains with crap schedules, imagine what will happen when folks get a true handle on the new trains and how good they are.
I have said it before and I’ll say it here again, AT now has a massive problem on its hands – and thats not how to boost train passengers – the people have spoken and voted with their feet on that one, rather the issue AT has (/will soon have) will be how to manage the huge up-tick in passenger numbers between now and when the full electric fleet is deployed. Yes thats only around 2 years from now, but the demand for it will be far bigger than they currently imagine.
And how long before the Granny (Herald) starts running editorials on how the new trains are now too full (due to overcrowding) and tut tutting the Mayor and councillors for not getting the new trains out and about sooner. Mark these words, within 12 months (18 months at the outside) from now there will be at least one of those finger pointing editorials.
While I know AT does not want to run mixed diesel and EMUs on the same services, but I think they will be faced with exactly that situation before too long due to growth of passengers on rail.
If the Council is proactive enough it would be right now putting 10 more EMU’s on option ready for delivery when Pukekohe is electrified – which having a guess at the Strategy it will be within the next 24 months. This would allow the full and final replacement of the ADL DMU fleet that would in the interim be serving between Papakura/Manukau and Pukekohe. It would also allow AT to top and tail (6-car) more EMU sets to allow capacity from 375 to 750.
2020 the fleet will probably need 25 more EMU’s ready for the CRL if rail has surged ahead as it is most likely to do.
As for the transition phase I have noted that AT are doing this line by line.
So Onehunga in April which frees up up to 4 ADL’s would can be diverted to the Manukau and Southern Lines
August we get the Manukau Line on the EMU’s so the ADK’s are retired and decommissioned
December the Southern Line gets the EMU’s the SA-4’s and 5’s I gather go to the Western Line (which already has the 6 car SA sets) while the ADL’s to Pukekohe for the interim
Next year the Western Line gets the EMU’s and all SA’s are retired while the ADL’s remain in Pukekohe until electrification is completed down there.
That said something tells me the 10 ADL’s are going to be with us a bit longer than intended until we get more EMU’s on hand as I wonder how long it will be before the Southern and Western Lines demand more and more 6 car EMU sets
Key will do a flip flop,only if votes are in it.
Just like every Government before and everyone after. And just like Labour have done on the issue of reopening the Gisborne Railway line
I think this is great news, and certainly matches my read on numbers. I know March can show artificially high numbers, but what I have sen on the Eastern line is busy trains throughout the day, and talking to people at work, a lot more people from Botany and Howick now drive to Panmure and get the train, rather than all the way into the city. With integrated fares, hopefully more will catch the bus to Panmure. As with others I suspect that the new trains will see a massive serge in numbers, and if AT can find a way to make everyone pay then they will also see better numbers as well. My observation is fare evasion at GI is significant, particularly on trains heading south with little evidence of people tagging on or off or buying tickets who are getting on those trains.
I was at Panmure Interchange at rush hour a few weeks ago – I noticed a lot of people transfering between busses and trains. It would be great to hear from a Howick and Eastern bus user whether there has been a noticeable upturn in bus usage out there since the interchange opened
or maybe people getting of bus at Panmure, but that frees up bus for users along Mount Wellington Highway. Good news all round. More patronage, more occupied seats.
March shows the numbers that were on the train this month, there’s nothing ‘artificial’ about that. It’s simply a month in which we get higher numbers than many other months. Artificial implies that the numbers recorded are somehow incorrect or inaccurate.
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and the numbers look to be 20% higher than the usual high March figures. With no big events like February, that is very impressive.
I wonder whether completion of integrated ticketing on a few of the big bus companies in the past few months is what’s led to the spike in rail patronage. People now able to use the same pass on bus and train and are using buses as feeder services to rail more and more.
No so sure, I’m guessing most people are aware of the financial penalty of doing so and avoid it. Besides most ‘feeder’ buses are feeder in name only, their frequency is generally so poor they’re a waste of time. As are the feeder buses for the NEX, people likely use them but those I’ve spoken to avoid them due to their poor frequency and if possible simply drive to the park and ride.
If you transfer on a stage boundary there is no penalty – in fact if you travel (for e.g.) 3 stages on a train, then one on a bus, you will pay in total a 4 stage fare, rather than separate 1 and 3 stage fares, which would be significantly more expensive.
thankfully a number of stage boundaries are on interchanges, such as Papakura, New Lynn, Newmarket and Manukau. I have transferred at each of these on my hop card, and I save quite a bit compared to what I used to pay on separate passes.
Labour seem to be inching towards the compulsory acquisition of rural land at rural prices for much of their Kiwibuild. Note the use of the word ‘greenfields’ and the absence of brownfield targets. This doesn’t seem like the usual left-wing speech of chasing density and ever rising land prices. This seems more like the expanding polycentric city with multi modal transport and housing types development process. Early days, hard to tell what it all means and what the voters will go for. But I think the next election will be interesting….
Phil Twyford argues Labour’s plan to build 100,000 houses in 10 years could cut building costs by NZ$47,000 per home
http://www.interest.co.nz/news/69204/phil-twyford-argues-labours-plan-build-100000-houses-10-years-could-cut-building-costs-nz
“Labour would bring regular amounts of greenfields land onto the market and the Government would take a more hands-on role in the development process, he said.
“By utilising available Crown land, master planning new developments and by foregoing the developer’s margin, we can exercise more control over land price,” he said.”
I think there is several issues with it. Do it too small and you end up doing a Hobsonville with its $1.4 land costs per hectare. Do it too big and you do not allow the private developers access to rural land at rural land prices. This is what killed this process off last time the Labour government tried it in the 1930s and 40s.
See the cartoon in the following link http://www.thesustainabilitysociety.org.nz/conference/2007/papers/HARRIS-Lost%20City.pdf there was a big political backlash, even though the economics of it seem to be working.
I am not sure how committed Labour is in going this direction. But interesting times…
The funny thing about John Key’s announcement which claims that he already committed to spending billions of dollars of rail, is absolutely ridiculous because it was the previous government that committed to spending all the money and the improvements such as the electric trains, electrification and Britomart all happened under Labour. When National came to power the electrification was put into uncertainty after they cancelled the fuel tax to fund the electrification and thereby delaying the the project by 5 years. Had Labour never been in power, none of these improvements to the rail network would have happened. I think the problem with National is that although its true that the majority of Aucklanders would sooner drive their cars to work to get to places, this is only because they public transport system is not up to world class standard, and they refuse to spend any more significant money on it.
Like I said previously the only way we are going to see the CBD rail link built sooner is if National are voted out this election which I hope is the case.
Name any cities where the majority of the population prefer to use public transport? Pretty much everyone in the world would rather take their own car than suffer public transport.
Uh, no. How did you arrive at such an opinion? I live in New York City where it would be a nightmare to get everywhere by personal automobile especially during weekday business hours, find parking for it, pay for the insurance, etc. A 24 hour subway system is very freeing. I love it.
The same is true for Paris.
Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, HK…
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, Zurich….
I can go on and on and on….
I said ‘prefer’ not have too. Most peps in every city would prefer to drive and it’s only in places where that is made too hard they take public transport. If there was a congestion charge on the London under ground more would drive but it is not like the roads of shanghai Guangzhou Copenhagen Amsterdam London or Zurich are empty of cars is it.
Oh Hans I’d prefer to fly my jetpack or dematerialise and instantly rematerialise somewhere else but we do have stick within the realms of the possible don’t we?The limits to driving are spatial in cities, not just to do with preference. Surely you can see that driving is only physically possible in Manhattan or Central London because of all those people using the much more spatially efficient Transit systems. Sure the road and parking space is then rationed by price (the fairest way when properly priced) but even in a fantasy world without congestion charges or tolls, and with free fuel and parking everyone driving would be completely impossible: totally hopeless gridlock.
Anyway when the systems are good, riding Transit is often a liberating choice. I love being in the city and not having to think about how long my car has been parked or whether I’ve had one too many drinks… Maybe you’ve never had this experience? No matter, you can always drive, but only because me and thousands of others are not on the road in your way.
Your preferences are not universal, and anyway preferences are always tempered by realities like cost and circumstance.
I’d prefer to live in Buckingham Palace than my house, but that doesn’t mean a goal of all Aucklanders living in historic English palaces is a solid foundation for housing policy.
I think Hans is a lost cause. I have driven in Hong Kong and NO, you don’t want to do that.
Because most of you never will, I will explain why
1. About nzd10 each way on the harbour tunnels, the west one being the most expensive and least crowded
2. Incessant traffic jams
3. Parking, as tough as anywhere. Private parking stations paint as many spots as they can difficult in even a Camry.
4. Lost opportunity to get quickly around northern Hong Kong Island by MTR. More use having a car in outer new territories like at Yuen Long but even here lengthy traffic jams
5. Being chauffeured is best! Something many HK people but few Kiwis will ever afford. If you are dumb enough to buy a car and pay the high petrol and toll costs might as well get a driver and save on parking as he can keep driving around or idling till you Ar ready.
But Hans the aim isn’t to get a majority in Auckland onto Transit; but just to provide an efficient and attractive service so that it becomes the rational choice for significantly more people to use it for more journeys, especially so that driving can remain a functional option for those that prefer it. It’s about giving every reluctant driver a good alternative, and this is to the great advantage of those that remain, especially vital business traffic. Everyone on a train is out of your way when driving.
Auckland is now of a scale where it can no longer work well as a driving only place. And it is more cost effective to now invest in the missing Transit and Active modes in this growing city as we have a mature road network and no more space for the increasing the numbers of land hungry private cars. It is about complementing the existing mature driving and parking systems. To grow Auckland economically without adding thousands and thousands of additional single occupant cars to our already stressed streets and roads.
Also terms of what people want, Transit use is booming and driving demand is flat; so the trend is clearly shifting away from the extremely unbalanced modeshare of the last 60 years.
Quick question – has anyone seen any coverage, of rail cracking the 11 million mark in the NZ Herald? I’ll go and get a hard copy a bit later to check just to be sure. I would have thought that AT’s press release showcasing rail’s achievement would be a noteworthy “good news story” that NZ Herald would naturally include in their publication. All in the interests of demonstrating their commitment toward providing un-biased media coverage.
Nup. That would be a fact, and an inconvenient one for their ‘get Len’ campaign.
they would probably do a Herald-Digipoll article that says that most Aucklanders prefer to drive a car than take a train. I much prefer a kiss than a kick in the balls, too.
Yes. It’s here. Quite balanced, too. So much for the “Get Len” conspiracy.
Waddayamean ‘quite balanced’? That’s an article about a one month decline in ferry patronage [easily explained by an absence of events on Waiheke]. Ferries which make up <6% of AKL PT use. I'll buy your 'quite balanced' idea when we see them report the March figures and conclude, as is only reasonable, that AKL is well on target to meet Key's challenge. With a headline and in a lead position.....
Nice to see the good news on rail but…..it just can’t help balancing the positive with a dig about the ferries. The article was written by one of the better Herald reporters. Do Herald staff read this blog-site? Its tempting to suppose the article might be a response to a bit of prodding 😉
Yes they definitely read the site, some have told me so in the past.
And the 0.5% decline in cycling… Really? I would call that no change.
You can take pride. From one million to eleven million, not many mature businesses can do this, after over one hundred years and on the smell of an oily rag too. The real changes ie electrification and the CRL still to come.
Len should make a cheaper package for john, ie build to aotea station before 2020 leave the rest to later. This is cheaper for the government to get on board and we get progress, in other words we should take realistic steps and cement the route for later plus the economic benefits etc
Anything less than the full tunnel is pointless, it simply extends the dead-end bottleneck further under the CBD. It’s the whole thing, or nothing. Unfortunately the current muppets warming the seats on the Treasury benches are only interested in the “nothing” option.
A huge proportion of the economic benefits come from through routing the network so extending the terminus up the road a bit won’t cut it. Nor will we get the economic benefits from the uplift around the other new stations. The costs will be spread out over about five years and benefits over multiple decades to centuries going on the value of other urban rail systems… the value dwarfs the costs.