ARTA have got around to publishing their August 2009 monthly business report a lot quicker than usual for some reason this time, which is really good actually as I get rather impatient wondering how patronage was in the last month and what other improvements to our public transport system we can hope for in the near future.
Anyway, in terms of patronage, August 2009 was another pretty good month in my opinion. Total patronage was up 2.3% on August 2008 – which doesn’t seem like much until you factor in that in August last year petrol prices were steadily above $2 a litre. For us to maintain patronage levels higher than last year, even though petrol is at least 50c a litre cheaper than it was last year, is a pretty big achievement in my opinion. It goes to show that the public transport “surge” last year wasn’t just a one-off, but has been maintained. I guess after enjoying massive increases in patronage last year, and in rail patronage over the last few years, such small increases do come across as a bit disappointing or unspectacular, but I think we’re still doing pretty well to be ahead of last year full stop.
So, here’s a summary of the August patronage:
And a look at what’s been going on over the past few years – of most note is the rolling average:
Similar to July, most of the increase has come via Ferry and Bus patronage, which is quite unusual for the past few years. I think that the lower train patronage increases in the past few months is probably indicative of the fact that not much has happened to the train network this year in terms of things opening. From next year, when we see a number of rail improvements, I would expect patronage on the train system to start taking off again.
Now, let’s have a look at infrastructure developments and how things are progressing:
Good to finally see quite a few things progressing – like the construction of Avondale, Te Papapa and Penrose station. It’s also good news to hear that the New Lynn project is ahead of schedule. That will be quite a spectacular transport interchange once it’s completed in September next year.
So yeah, solid but unspectacular, but overall a pretty good month for public transport I reckon.
Processing...
A good half million more trips than any other August so far. That’s pretty good. Even with the problems current.
I would like to see some up to date photos on these developments if possible. The DART, ARTA, Auckland Trains sites don’t get updated with new pics overly often. I am aware that those happy days of the public wandering on to work sites to take snaps are long gone and we are largely reliant on official pics to keep us in the picture.
There are some good recent pics of Newmarket here: http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?p=32824#p32824
I have been meaning to get “out and about” to take a few photos of New Lynn, Avondale and Onehunga line upgrades. Maybe something for one of the next few weekends if the weather is good.
The Newmarket Station is looking great, the fence is looking concerning, however the station will have its own entry out to remers. As to the Patronage, to me it’s looking really good considering the amount of disruption improving the network is causing at the moment.
You always have to factor in that the Super Gold Card free travel subsidy scheme kicked off last November, so my hunch is that any passenger increase figures is due to old people taking the bus, train and ferries in their droves, something that I can witness every day with hordes of oldies coming Waiheke. I suspect it’s the same story on the other PT modes too.
It’s not just that Uroskin, I find it very noticable that my bus is fuller than it was even during off-peak times just a few years ago…