Fares on Auckland’s buses, trains and ferries will go up from early next month, with Auckland Transport also outlining changes to zones.
The changes, which come into force on February 2, include a weighted 5.2% increase to fares, consolidation of fare zones from 14 to 9, the simplification of the fare structure, and detaching ferry pricing from the wider public transport network.
Some journeys will decrease as a result of the zone consolidations, however, the annual public transport fare adjustment will mean increases in many fares, ranging from 15 to 25 cents for each bus and train journey and 20c to $1.40 for each ferry journey.
The annual review of public transport fares is needed to offset “substantial” increases to operating costs, said director public transport and active modes Stacey van der Putten.
“We know any increases add to people’s cost of living and so these are carefully considered, however the cost of running, maintaining and investing in Auckland’s public transport network is also increasing and we need to keep up with this.”
“During the COVID-19 pandemic we had two years when we didn’t increase Auckland’s public transport fares despite a sharp increase in operating costs and we’re now effectively playing catch-up.”
She said AT aims to strike a “fair balance” between the share of public transport costs paid by passengers compared to ratepayers and taxpayers.
“Alongside this annual fare adjustment, we will continue to investigate options to increase public transport income from commercial sources other than fares.
“Increasing non-fare revenue is something the government expects from public transport authorities like Auckland Transport, along with a gradual increase of the share passengers pay towards overall public transport operating costs.”
Fare zone changes
When fare zones were introduced in 2016, Auckland was divided into 14 separate zones. The price of a commuter’s fare is based on how many zones are travelled through rather than how many trips are taken.
The number of fare zones will be consolidated from 14 to 9, with eight zones combined into three new zones.
- East Coast/South Rodney zone is created by merging Helensville, Huapai, Hibiscus Coast and Upper North Shore zones.
- Northern Manukau zone is created by merging Manukau North and Beachlands zone.
- Southern Manukau zone is created by merging Manukau South and Franklin zones.
Bus and train customers will also only be charged for travelling a maximum of four zones, even if they travel across five or more zones.
AT said that zone consolidation will benefit some customers, while communities living furthest from the city will benefit most from the simplification of the fare table.
An off-peak discount of 10%, introduced as an incentive to help manage capacity at peak times, has been removed after it did not have the impact AT hoped for.
Ferry pricing will also be made independent from the rest of the public transport network.
AT has been unable to adjust fares proportionately with the ferries’ increasing operational costs and by moving services to separate pricing, it says ferry fares can be adjusted without impacting bus and train fares.
There is no change to the HOP card $50 seven day fare cap, which applied for bus, train and inner harbour ferry users.
Auckland’s trains are currently not running due to major maintenance works.
Most services will start to run again from January 28.
