Auckland-based ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar claims a “blind eye” is being turned to people who refuse to pay fares on public transport — and the practice, she says, is leading to violence and antisocial behaviour.
However, Auckland Transport (AT) rejects the accusation of tacitly allowing a “travel-for-free” policy for fare dodgers.
Attention is on public transport today as Paywave and other methods of contactless payment are being enabled across the city’s buses, trains and ferries from this morning — a first for any city in New Zealand.
From today, bus, train, and ferry users in Auckland are able to use contactless debit and credit cards to get onboard. (Source: 1News)
“Antisocial fare dodgers discourage Aucklanders from using public transport,” Parmar said. “They deprive AT of revenue and load costs onto rule-abiding ratepayers. They are threatening, stealing from, and assaulting bus drivers and passengers,” she said, in a media release.
“In September, I met with a bus driver seriously assaulted by fare dodgers and relayed his concerns to AT. Since then, I have been told by a bus contractor that AT has been repeatedly warned that its lax policy on fare dodging is leading to violence.
“In 2020, AT introduced a de facto ‘travel-for-free’ policy when it removed cash from buses and advised operators that passengers without balance on their HOP cards should be allowed to travel regardless.”
Perceptions of spiking crime onboard Auckland’s transit network, which included a fatal stabbing aboard a bus last month, have been a sore point for the agency as it looks to grow public transport patronage after it fell during the pandemic.
Parmar said: “We shouldn’t expect bus drivers to be responsible for dealing with fare dodgers. AT needs to take responsibility for a culture it has created that invites free riders to take advantage of the rest of us.
“When we turn a blind eye to repeated fare-dodging, we send a message that rules – and basic respect – don’t matter. Is it any wonder this then leads to violence?”
Parmar suggested more security onboard public transport and that AT needed to have “sterner ‘no-fare, no-ride’ signage”.
Passengers evading fares 3% of all boardings — AT
In response, AT public transport director Stacey van der Putten denied the agency had a “travel-for-free policy” but the agency was focused on “de-escalation training” for drivers and “most non-payment comes from teenagers and school students”.
“Bus drivers should be reminding passengers about the need to pay but, if things get heated, we don’t want drivers to be getting attacked over fares.”
She said the agency estimated fare evasion was about 3% of all boardings in Auckland.
Bus driver protection shields were also being rolled out to 80% of the bus fleet over the next two years, according to AT.
“Fare evasion is not tolerated on Auckland’s public transport network,” van der Putten said.
“People who travel on bus, train or ferry services in Auckland face instant fines of $150 and court fines of up to $1000 if they have not tagged on or bought a ticket.
“Auckland Transport employs transport officers who have the power to check if people have paid their fare, issue fines and request people to leave if they refuse to pay. These transport officers are deployed across the public transport network, including on buses.
“AT has never had a ‘travel-for-free’ policy. We expect Aucklanders to pay their fare and so do their fellow passengers.
The mother told Breakfast about the horror she felt after hearing of the latest attack in Auckland’s Onehunga on Wednesday, where the person later died of their injuries. (Source: Breakfast)
“What we do have in place is ‘de-escalation training’ for our bus drivers which is designed to reduce the risk of confrontation with passengers,” van der Putten said.
“In the rare cases, when a person boards a bus and refuses to pay, we ask the driver to log this in the system so that we can keep track of these incidents and we use this information to deploy transport officers to areas where high-levels of fare evasion has been recorded.”
