Another fares disaster?
Last month I highlighted the desperate need for Auckland Transport to develop a comprehensive public transport fares policy. One which looks at all the tricky trade-offs and compromises associated with setting public transport fares, highlights the need to balance competing interests and competing objectives (i.e.…
22 Comments AT Fare Survey
While the roll-out of HOP seems to be taking forever with hiccups at every stage, it seems that Auckland Transport at least getting on with the next stage of looking at how they might do the next and arguably the most important stage, integrated fares. …
The desperate need for a fares policy
There have been a lot of articles in the media recently bemoaning changes to public transport fares as the AT Hop card is progressively introduced. The latest relates to hikes in ferry fares which are coming in the near future:
Big fare hikes for ferry users could hit within weeks.…
What Is Happening With Passes?
As Auckland Transport explain in their video on Auckland’s New Public Transport Network , the goal of integrated ticketing is that you pay one fare, no matter how many transfers you make. Indeed, it is going to be absolutely critical to have this in place before the new bus networks are rolled out, starting with South Auckland in early 2015.…
Are Free Fares the white knight for transport in Auckland
The topic of free public transport is one that comes up every now and again and it has recently been raised by Mayoral Hopeful John Minto.
How about another hour at home with your family – every workday?
Heaven knows Aucklanders deserve a break from gridlock traffic.…
PT Fare changes on the way
Auckland Transport have just announced a the results of their annual fare review.
2013 Annual Public Transport Fare Review
Auckland Transport (AT) has completed its annual review of bus, ferry and train fares.
An annual review of Auckland public transport fare prices is undertaken by AT in accordance with its service contract obligations with transport operators.…
Are the fares too damn high?
For most of the last year we have found ourselves somewhat puzzled by the stalling and even declines experienced by rail patronage in particular – but more recently general public transport patronage. This can be seen in the dip in 12 month rolling patronage totals up to November last year:
Auckland Transport have provided a multitude of excuses for the patronage dip over the past few months – some more plausible than others (they blamed the World Cup for some of the declines in August and November, even though the World Cup was only in September & October 2011).…
Reducing rail fare evasion
The November patronage statistics highlight that the dip in rail use continues. Like September and October, when the Rugby World Cup last year made comparisons a bit silly, in November there’s a reasonable explanation for the dip: the transition to use of the AT Hop card means that trips are no longer counted at the time of purchase (for 10 ride tickets) but instead at the time the trip is actually made.…
Fairer fare zones
One of the most discussed parts of the draft Regional Public Transport Plan seems to have turned out to be the proposed fare zone map. My fellow bloggers Mr Anderson and Stu Donovan discussed the zones in previous posts, while today’s NZ Herald also quotes Labour MP Phil Twyford’s criticism of the proposed boundaries.…
Thinking about fare zones
One of the most interesting piece of information in the Draft Regional Public Transport Plan – along with the fabulous new bus network – is a first look at the possible zone boundaries for Auckland’s new integrated fares system. This is shown in the map below:
Setting zone boundaries and coming up with the preferred number of zones must be one heck of a difficult task as there are so many things to balance: The fewer zones you have, the easier the system is to understand
The more zones you have, the less likely fares will change much from their current level and the lower chances there are of massive arbitrary jumps in fares
The lower the fare is for each zone, the less farebox recovery there will be
The higher the fare is, the more people who will be put off catching PT by the cost Auckland does have the advantage of a natural geography which splits the city relatively neatly into different parts.…
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