Thursday is the next Auckland Transport board meeting and here are some of the highlights from the papers going to the board.
Closed Agenda
There is surprisingly little on the closed agenda for this meeting with the only things of real interest being:
- Enterprise Asset Management Business Case
- Third Party Major Project Support and Mobilisation
- Active Modes update
I wonder if the active modes update will just say “we haven’t done anything on active for years” given ATs abysmal record on this of late. As for the second one, I have no idea what that is.
Business Report
The main business report has quite a few updates. I’ve pulled out the things that stood out the most but there’s a lot more there.
Analytics
AT have been doing some interesting things with video analytics of late and the report shares some of the new things they’re doing
The issuing of automatic infringement notices for parking in the shared space along Federal Street has commenced. The new Special Vehicle Lane CCTV Analytics infringement capability is utilised, allowing parking officers to return to normal duties instead of spending time moving vehicles along on Federal Street.
CCTV Analytics to detect train taggers approaching moving trains at the Swanson train station has been introduced. The analytics automatically alert the ATOC Central operators to dispatch an officer onsite. Train tagging has significant financial, operational and safety impacts. These analytics will be rolled out at other stations around Auckland in the coming months.
Video analytics to count and track the direction of travel of pedestrians and cyclists were built at three sites – Beach-Churchill / Fanshawe-Beaumont / Wellington-Union streets. The analytics are for the Pedestrian Analytics Solution initiative, a joint project between AT and Auckland Council. A total of 58 sites have been identified by Auckland Council and AT for CCTV analytics. The data will support planning by giving greater insight into pedestrian movements in and around the city centre.
The new Data Analytics team is providing data consumption and analysis to help the Network Management team better understand the main uses of Lime scooters and ensure compliance with contractional obligations. The team are also starting to assist to help understand usage patterns throughout the city.
Automatically issuing parking tickets sounds like a great use of the technology and needs to be rolled out across the city ASAP – although I can already hear the Herald typing up an article complaining about how unfair it is to poor drivers. In saying that, I also wonder how useful of a visual deterrence roaming parking wardens. Later in the report they also mention they will be extending their automated bus lane to Park Rd, Khyber Pass Rd and New North Rd.
As for Lime, it seems Lime themselves have already helped in providing the usage pattern information AT want..
Projects
Rail development – It seems we’re finally getting some movement on the 3rd main and electrification to Pukekohe
AT is continuing to work in collaboration with KiwiRail to progress projects identified for funding through the Transitional Rail Activity Class. Since receiving mobilisation funding at the end of 2018, KiwiRail has recruited staff and procured design resource for the Wiri to Quay Park 3rd Main project and Papakura to Pukekohe Electrification. Site surveys have been completed and work is on target to inform design, cost, risk and business updates this calendar year to secure implementation funding.
Work is also underway to review and confirm future power system requirements and to progress development of an integrated rail control facility in Auckland
Rodney Targeted Rate – As part of the Rodney Targeted Rate, AT are looking to build 200 carparks combined across Warkworth, Huapai and Kumeu. They say they have agreed with the local board on locations and are now working on designs.
Airport to Botany – AT say they are working through the various stages of the design process for the upgraded Puhinui interchange and that will be completed in October with construction also due to start later this year. Resource consent for the project is expected to be approved by the end of May.
K Rd cycleway/Streetscape – It seems that after unnecessarily delaying the K Rd project for years, AT are now suffering because the construction cost costs have increased. What’s the bet the negotiations will be about what bits they can cut out and weaken the value of the project.
NZTA funding contribution was confirmed on 20 March. The tender price has come in higher than expected and commercial negotiations are being pursued with the preferred supplier
AT Metro
AT Local – AT say their on-demand rideshare trial in Devonport is improving with 2816 rides in March, 42% higher than February. They also say an initial assessment of the trial will be completed by the end of Quarter 2 2019.
Ferry Procurement – Don’t expect any major changes to ferries for the next four years. AT are still working on a new ferry strategy and in March/April finalised 4-year extensions to current contracts.
Rail Procurement – One big procurement AT will be doing is for the rail network. They’re currently looking at their options and have started work on market sounding with potential suppliers.
New Train Timetable – AT are planning on introducing a new timetable in November and it looks like Western Line users might start to see some disruption as works ramp up for the construction of the City Rail Link.
Train timetable improvements are in planning for introduction in November 2019, including later night service on the Southern and Eastern Lines, and changes to Western Line inter-peak, weekend and public holidays, in preparation for service operational changes during CRL construction works
Ferry Services – In January AT introduced weekend ferry services to Hobsonville Point after locals helped provide additional funding. AT say usage continues to be above the targets set at the beginning of the trial and are still seeing around 500 journeys a weekend taking place.
New Park & Ride – AT say 135 new spaces in Albany and 284 new spaces at Takanini are due to be completed in May.
Health and Safety Dashboard
A separate report covers a number of health and safety measures from across the organisation. One that stood out to me was this on public transport injuries.
So 49 injuries in a year and I suspect most of these are fairly minor. By comparison, about 550 people are seriously injured every year on our roads and likely many thousands more minor injuries.
Transport Indicators
I’ve already covered PT ridership and cycling numbers but a couple of graphs in the indicators stood out.
Parking occupancy – it appears that ATs changes to parking prices, especially to the Downtown building, have had an impact. I wonder if this is also related to the regional fuel tax providing an extra incentive not to drive to the city.
Trips per business day for bus and train both jumped quite a bit, helping to push boardings over 10 million trips in the month for the first time.
Let me know if the comments if there’s anything you’ve seen that I’ve missed.
Good article. Hopefully they are starting to worry about their jobs given the poor performance with active modes and safety.
I wonder when the Glen Eden feedback summary will be discussed. They have been dragging their feet on releasing it for months now – moving the release date twice missing it each time. I can only think they are holding it back for some reason now.
Typical of their comms department it seems.
Perhaps they are waiting for board approval.
The article in the Herald about AT’s arrogance was pretty fair I thought. But that had little to do with active modes or safety.
You pay to read the Herald?
No, it was in a cafe, paper version.
Paying money to read the Hosk’s bile and regurgitated Facebook is not a good idea.
Waspman, I agree that there is an amazing degree of arrogance about AT. It took them 2 days less than 3 months to answer an OIA request of mine. After all that time they told me that they did not have the information and so could not respond to my request.
The Herald have called them arrogant; while others might call them inept or incompetent.
I won’t do this because I am going to get the information. I might have to tell the CFO how he might find it; and I might have to copy the Ombudsman and the press again.
It is sad that a public organisation sees themselves as so unaccountable and seemingly beyond reproach.
There needs to be a clean out from the top (Board) down to have an organisation that will deliver modern transport outcomes.
Careful though, John. There are some people and units in AT who are arrogantly pursuing a car-biased culture. There are others who are getting worn thin with trying to change it, and they’re being flogged by everyone, in and out of the organisation. There are people tasked with change but limited by legislation and by NZTA’s problems. And the people answering our questions are probably underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated.
It’s not so much an organisation as an organism: suffering from poor lifestyle habits, on medication and holistic retraining and physio programmes at the same time. With an auto-immune problem, but showing a good response to positive thinking techniques.
I think the flogging of AT for things both outside its control and in a way that bolsters the status quo is to be avoided. Far better to give constructive criticism – both negative and positive – for when each is deserved.
“Typical of their comms department” … I’d imagine it’s a technical reason or a backlash-minimisation reason, not so much the comms department per se.
Those aren’t really good reasons though. Hiding from backlash is how they end up in the pickles they are always in. Technical reasons are best dealt with transparently.
This comment prompted me to follow up with the AT engagement team last night – pleased to say I got a response an hour or so ago saying the report is now done and due to go online. Submitters will get a letter / email early next week.
Your K’rd guess (?) is a good one because that is exactly what is happening at the moment.
Good to see the occupancy rates of the city centre carparks have dropped. The 90% level they were at is a level that creates a lot of driving around and around for a park, affecting air quality. To make the most of the assets, and stop subsidising commuters they should convert more of the most accessible parks into anything that’ll free up street space. Short term delivery parks, bike parks. Which means a careful balance of steadily reducing the off street parks, raising prices, converting the parks to better uses, and keeping the occupancy at about 80% or 85% to try to get some sort of return on the huge investment and lost opportunity of the car park buildings.
That freed up space on the streets can then be put to much better use for more efficient and people-friendly modes, improving the experience for everyone in town, no matter how they arrive.
this is the plan and extent for A4E trials this year. _some_ of the 42 High St parks being converted around august/september to discourage people from circling and direct them to the . there is apparently a complicated legal process for AT to disestablish carpark designation.
so frustrating there is still this level of resistance and incrementalism.
how long has the ‘pancake parklet’ been there now as an obvious success. some retailers must think the lack of footpath is pushing people into their stores.
They are already removing car parks everywhere be it the city or the out-lying suburbs, the logic of which is a mystery.
College Hill Rd has lost spaces, again why is a mystery.
Part of AT’s way of making it harder to get around Auckland I guess.
Probably depends on who you talk to. If you remove a carpark and someone no longer makes the trip then it makes it slightly easier for everyone else to get around.
If you believe the Remuera Business Association there is a conspiracy within AT to reduce parking for no reason.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/112242137/business-owners-worried-about-future-after-car-park-closes-indefinitely
What does it say about these business owners that they care more about their ratepayer-funded subsidy (a public off-street carpark) than the safety of their customers?
To be fair I do wonder if there is a conspiracy.
If the car park passed stress tests and business has offered alternatives to mitigating risk then one has to wonder why AT and doing, well…what they like. And this theme is repeating itself, an unelected organisation who arrogantly doesn’t listen to anyone but its own audience its currently tuned into, for whatever reason.
I feel for businesses, it is the difference between finding a park or going elsewhere, i.e. a mall and those affected businesses staying open.
What appears to be going on is AT is anti cars, the same source of 11 cents per litre revenue they get for free and have yet to do any good with, yet taking away the ability to use cars without giving a good alternative.
If they think their minimalist bus based PT is the answer they are delusional! Not that AT give a shit!
ah shit I kicked the nest again
The over provision of car parking makes walking or riding a bike feel unsafe- people then feel there is no option but to drive also – jump in their car and then- hey why stop at the local shops may as well drive to the big mall as there is more option.
It’s a consequence of the “arms race” in vehicle size that is especially noticeable in Remuera. Do you really need a 2500+kg vehicle to go to the ‘village’ shops?
Agreed Zippo.
But to ban the Honda Jazz’s of this world suggests AT are just throwing their unelected weight around cos they can!
We’re almost hitting the limit of what is considered a ‘car’ in Europe. A standard driver license (class B) allows you to drive vehicles with a maximum gross weight of no more than 3,500 kg.
They are unelected so why should they care what people think? Surely their job is to deliver the best most effective transport solutions regardless of what people think.
A dirty little secret is that often people, especially people with no training or data, make bad decisions.
The 85% target occupancy rate typically applies to on-street spaces. That helps avoid people driving around town trying to find a spot. Off-street car parks can have higher occupancy. It doesn’t really apply to car park buildings.
True. It probably doesn’t apply where there are good digital signs telling you where to go for a park. I imagine all these carparking buildings would have those now? (Wouldn’t have a clue…) In which case, the occupancy is low enough now to be able to proceed with more road reallocation as directed in the high-level Council and AT documents.
The target occupancy used for on-street spaces to minimise driving around should apply to at-grade carparks too, as they become dangerous for anyone else using the space (eg cyclists getting to the door of a shopping centre). Do you think 85% is low enough for these?
I think you should aim for 95%-100% for off-street car parks. There is no point using valuable land to provide 15% redundancy. A simple counter and sign can let people know if a car park is full so they can look elsewhere and not waste time going in in the first place. I’m not sure I agree that high occupancy makes car parks less safe for people on bikes. I see that as a design failure to provide a safe path to the shops whether that be through the car park or some other route.
Good comment about the safety benefits of public transport there, Matt. Safety is AT’s top priority, they say. They should be transforming the sector to get as many people onto it as possible…
In fact, how do we factor that in when considering fare levels?
‘Wiri to Quay Park 3rd Main project’.
Intriguing – does this mean they are planning having the third main running more than just Wiri to Westfield? This would certainly help with the express services AT plan to run once the CRL is open and any future Hamilton trains that run all the way to Britomart.
I was surprised to see that.
It would cost but turning the Westfield junction into a flyover would be a massive improvement especially if a third main is being considered to the Ports of Auckland.
The room is there for a third main apart from the GI tunnel and Meadowbank to Judges Bay
I think even a 3rd main from Westfield to the Purewa tunnel would be valuable. This would allow an express to pass an all-stops service without any delays.
The only downside is it would probably pass somewhere in the vicinity of Panmure, where the express is proposed to stop anyway. This would mean the express and all-stops would arrive at Panmure at similar times. Purely as a Panmure user I would prefer a train every 5 mins rather than two every 10 mins.
My gut feel is that they will build the vital Wiri to Westfield bit first, build the extension to Purewa tunnel after that and kick the expensive bit north of there well into the future.
What’s your reasoning it would pass there? Why not between Westfield & Sylvia Park?
I was thinking it would pass somewhere in the middle of the section between Westfield and Purewa as that would reduce the chance of knock on effects if one was running late.
In reality the scheduling of the express would be dictated by a number of pinch points across the network so it’s anyone’s guess where they would usually pass.
Wiri 2 Quay park is in different pieces. Wiri2westfield is the freight bypass into the yard after middle more on the west side. Otahuhu 2westfilrd goes from the 3rd platform at otahuhu to Westfield junction. Westfield lite is the junction upgrade to take the extra tracks around to sylviapark siding. After that it gets put through panmure to Tamaki and gleninnes. Nothing from there to Tamaki drive, then it’s a rebuild of the roads into the port.
I still think we should be building the 4th main at the same time.
I’d expect that the enabling works would be part of the project, but some forward planning/induced demand that didn’t involve roads would be nice.
Wasn’t there a study that showed the only project with a higher BCR than the third main was quadruplification?
It was the second highest after the 3rd main.
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/07/28/third-main-business-case-un-redacted-version/
BCR is often not the best indicator of economic performance. I’d focus first on the NPV, i.e. benefits – costs.
+1 build it once build it right unless they do build the 3rd but have everything in place to lay down tracks for the 4th. Seems a waste to build a 3rd then rip it all up and move everything to fit in a 4th later on.
Is there a delivery date for the second tranche of AM units?
Will this lead to another timetable revision?
That Analytics looks a great tool. Good to see some things progressing pretty well even though some others are really dragging.
“and changes to Western Line inter-peak, weekend and public holidays, in preparation for service operational changes during CRL construction works”
I guess they will shift more services a bit to the inter-peak if they can’t run full out 10 min freq during all of peak. They could also ensure all western line peak services run as 6 cars to help minimise overload. Of course that comes at the expense of us Eastern & Southern line riders but I’m sure we could help you Westies out.
AT are planning on introducing a new timetable in November and it looks like “Western Line users might start to see some disruption as works ramp up for the construction of the City Rail Link.Train timetable improvements are in planning for introduction in November 2019, including later night service on the Southern and Eastern Lines, and changes to Western Line inter-peak, weekend and public holidays, in preparation for service operational changes during CRL construction works”
I am confused, is it a disruption or improvement?
First one, then the other
Oh in my neck of the woods (from the board report):
“FN32 East West Bus Corridor:
Final public consultation on the Church Street and Meadow Street cycleway has been undertaken and the tender is being prepared. Negotiation with Watercare for the Church Street-Meadow Street bridge widening is ongoing. Mount Wellington Highway cycleway and transit lanes are to be undertaken in early 2020 to align with road rehabilitation. Liaison is ongoing with the Tupuna Maunga Authority regarding a historic encroachment on Mount Wellington Highway. The FN32 Stage 3 works on Massey Road will be delivered as part of the Connected Communities Programme.
Also:
Page 60 of 68
Mt Wellington Highway
Preliminary design is underway for bus priority southbound on Mt Wellington Highway between Penrose Road and Sylvia Park. Construction is planned for the FY 2019/2020.
Good for the frequent 66 bus especially, but also the 743 from GI & 782 from Mission Bay.
That’s excellent. Hope you keep tabs on the timeline for us, Grant.
>Preliminary design is underway for bus priority southbound on Mt Wellington Highway between Penrose Road and Sylvia Park. Construction is planned for the FY 2019/2020.
That’s great news, Grant.
Congestion on the MWH is awful, even (especially!) on weekends with all the mall traffic. AT needs to make sure that the operating hours of this bus lane cover weekends during the day and not just weekday commuting hours.
Yes good point.
Matt L , I found this buried in a report a while back . And this is the report :-
http://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2019/02/AE_20190227_AGN_8175_AT_files/AE_20190227_AGN_8175_AT_Attachment_66147_1.PDF
And on page 12 there is an item on the sale of the SA/SD carriages and I noticed 26 of them have been unconditional sale to a firm called Octagonal Capital , my question is who/what are they and what are/will they going to used for when they go out of the hands of AT ? . As a number of them also have been sold to KR and Antipodean Explorer I would have thought the last of the SA/SD/SX carriages would be put to better use on the national network as commuter trains . Or are they going to be used as beach homes somewhere ?
Is it those ones that some tourist company is going to upgrade for a full length of NZ luxury service? I remember something in the news a few times a while back.
Grant , Antipodean Explorer bought 30 SA’s and 1 SD which are under going a full makeover as a tourist train at Hillside in Dunedin at the moment for that tourist/hotel train which is due to start later this year .
It’s that Octagonal Capital that I’m trying to work out unless it’s some holding company , have searghed the internet but as yet can’t find them , or they could be following the ADK DMU’s and going overseas ?
I only hope AT have made a good deal over the sale of them
Thanks for clarifying that.
Cool, so the Antipodean Explorer is progressing then? Been quiet since the announcements.
Ocatagonal Capital sounds like a Dunedin based holding company. It might even be related to Hillside for some tax or accounting reason.
Here are 2 items from the ODT about the revamp of the carriages ;-
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/carriage-work-hillside
and
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/luxury-carriages-take-shape-hillside-workshops
And this video from Youtube showing one of the 1st batch of SA carriages heading south through Middleton on the way to Dunedin :-
Just looked up Octagonal Capital on Companies Office.
Shareholders are some UK investors. Sole director is Simon Laidlaw CARTER but he is just a partner at a law firm (and whose trust company is also a shareholder) – so may not actually hve any skin in the game.
“Third Party Major Project Support and Mobilisation” sounds like a title designed to hide something from OIA requests.
God forbid they explain anything in plain talk. Obfuscation continues to rule and is the rule.
Good summary Matt.
From a quick scsan of the doc two other things stood out:
— HOP usage now at ~90%
— NN growth continues apace.
I’m interested in next steps for AKLs ticketing system, which will eat into paper ticket rump.
I see PT systems in Sydney and Melbourne now accept payment by phone (e.g. Google Pay), which seems like a logical way to grow PT use and reduce costs.
I thought open loop for AT HOP was shelved so that when finally Project NEXT delivers to Auckland in 2026 that there will be an upgrade? Related, from reading the GW equivalent of this meeting it also appears that the mid-2021 roll out starting with Wellington trains may be at risk if RFP is not till mid-2020..
Stupidly Opal by contactless in Sydney does not give the off-peak rates so you still need a card to get the best deals when there.
Apologies, I’m not familiar with the phrases “open loop” (is this necessary for account-based token ticketing?) or Project NEXT (is this an NZTA thing?).
Regardless, given the speed at which tehcnology evolves (and the rate at which prices comes down) it’d be strange for AKL to wait until 2026 for the next upgrade of the ticketing system.
That’d mean Sydney and Melbourne were a full decade ahead of AKL having both adopted smartcard ticketing systems around the same time?
Stu – Project NEXT is a bit of a debacle. Basically the NZTA bought HOP to become a national system. A year or two when Wellington was looking integrated ticketing, NZTA told them they needed to also adopt HOP if they wanted funding assistance. Wellington threw their toys out of the cot and refused to take it and would build their own system. Then, the NZTA turned around and decided what they developed would now become the national system. Auckland has agreed to adopt it even though nothing for it exists yet but it has also meant they’ve decided there will be no major development on HOP till then.
Right. Is there information on Project NEXT available online?
The only thing I could find was this: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104808043/new-nationwide-public-transport-ticketing-system-to-be-rolled-out-from-2021
Again, more useful GA droids:
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/10/09/fix-hop-top-issue/
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2018/07/09/hop-improvements-stopped/
Matt L – Waikato Regional Council is planning to introduce the new ‘Tap N Travel’ (Tag On/Tag Off) system in July 2019 for Hamilton’s suburban and regional Busit network replacing the current stored value Busit card. According to the regional council, Waikato Region will be the first of 9 regions to adopted the system with Dunedin being next. All Go Bus buses based in Hamilton have holders fitted for the new ‘Readers’.
I was wondering if this is part of the first phase of the Project Next?
So what are the methods of payment when they start the commuter service from Hamilton-Auckland or are they going to have a combined card ? . And will the Super Gold card apply also ? . As I see it they should set the system up so that both different cards should be able to be used on the Hamilton and Auckland Networks instead of having to carry 2 different cards when changing from 1 train to the next .
So AT and The HCC should get their heads together as soon as possible before the service starts in March/April next year . Or will NZTA have their own payment system running then ?.
david L – At this stage, the Hamiton/Papakura train service will be cash/ETPOS fares for one off travel and weekly/monthly concession cards for regular travel between Hamilton and Papakura only. For continuation travel from Papakura to Britomart additional fare needs to be paid. At this stage, AT is not interested in combined fare system, as AT is not getting NZTA funding for the service. Hamilton travelers will need to get a HOP card or pay cash for travel between Papakura and Britomart.
With regards to the new Tap n Travel payment/ticketing system being introducef in Hamilton, Super Gold Card users will get their own Busit card similar to the HOP Super Gold card. Unfortunately, the Busit Super Gold Card can not be used in Auckland, being 2 different payment/ticketing systems.
Oh, good oh. Such long term vision…
It might be worth having a look a Victoria’s attempt to put in a state wide ticketing system Myki before proceeding here. It cost well north of $1 billion and isn’t anywhere near state wide.
They are more complex than they first appear, for example you start getting more situations where different levels of service appear on the same route.
For example if you board an inbound Wairarapa service at Upper Hutt you pay a higher price than the Tranz Metro trains. Some do this as it is a better service being express, but if prices were the same as metro these trains would be flooded, they are already pretty full.
Stu Donovan , it states the following in that article in the 1st and 3rd paragraph “Public transport users in almost all parts of the country will eventually be able to use their mobile phones or bankcards to jump on any bus, train or ferry.” and “The new technology will allow commuters across New Zealand to use either mobile devices, credit or debit cards, or a national “transit” card to access all forms of public transport in most places up and down the country.”
If a child catches PT they then will have to use cash as they aren’t allowed a credit/debit card until they turn 18 . And if coming out of you bank account you then will need cash in it all the time to pay for your trip and you give it to a child they may try and spend it other things that aren’t to do with PT . Where as say a HOP style caed can not be used for any other purpose and at the end of the day you can check to see what you have left .
And if you use this new system on say the new H2A route who will get the fares paid , will HCC/WDC/WRC get all the money and will AT be fighting to get their share if the journey continues through to say from Frankton to Britomart ? as you don’t have to tag on/off if you don’t leave the platform when changing trains and the bulk of the travel is through the Waikato area . And when the trip is in reverse does apply the other way around like AT will collect as it was the start and you tagged on in their area .
Or is there going to be a person in a small room somewhere sorting who gets what ?
And I have head that WINZ could possibly making their gold card like a pay wave style card that can be used on all PT but if this happens is another thing .
>And if you use this new system on say the new H2A route who will get the fares paid , will HCC/WDC/WRC get all the money and will AT be fighting to get their share if the journey continues through to say from Frankton to Britomart ? as you don’t have to tag on/off if you don’t leave the platform when changing trains and the bulk of the travel is through the Waikato area . And when the trip is in reverse does apply the other way around like AT will collect as it was the start and you tagged on in their area .
David, this much is pretty simple. A break point for payment purposes would be set, and the money divided up based on the fare rate. I’d imagine (if Auckland’s zonal system was adopted further south) that the zone boundary would either be at the local authority boundary or the station closest to it. Handily, the boundary between the Auckland Waikato regions is just south of Pukekohe Station, so it would make sense for Pukekohe Station to be the break point. So from the customer perspective traveling to the Waikato would be just another zone, but the back office system would divvy up the money.
In terms of tagging on in one region and tagging off in another, this is totally routine in many parts of the world. E.g. in Japan many people (I would imagine hundreds of thousands if not more daily) travel on commuter trains which through-run onto subway lines. You tag on at your local commuter stop and go through no fare gates until you get off on the subway. The companies split the money based on the station where one company’s tracks become another’s. Simple, nothing to worry about 🙂
If the whole country adopted the HOP card system as originally planned, there would be no need for wasting more money on needless duplication. It really comes down to local parochialism especially from the Wellington Regional council, the same council who ‘reorganised’ the Wellington bus system.
P.s. Found the droids I was looking for: http://blog.masabi.com/blog/what-is-open-loop-ticketing
I feel compelled to comment on the Devonport shuttles. Forget the percentage it has gone up, it is 91 people per day. That is probably 8 people per hour. I cannot e bothered researching how many hours they operate every day because it is an exercise in futility.
However if someone wants to travel from Takapuna to Devonport, or viceversa the bus frequency off peak is every 30 minutes. Little wonder Lake Road has so many cars.
It is one of the biggest rorts I have ever seen – I live in the area. It is disgraceful that public money is being used to trial a system in one of the richest areas in NZ and that alread has the highest cycling mode share in the city.
As part of Bike Devonport, we advocated for so long for money to improve cycling and were to;ld the well was dry. But want a shuttle to ferry lawyers and CEOs to their ferry every morning at a $31 subsidy – no worries mate!
F***ing disgrace.