It will be more expensive to travel on Wellington’s public transport later this year.
The Greater Wellington Regional Council voted on Thursday to hike Metlink’s base fare by 3.1% and slash the off-peak discount from 30% to 20% but the changes will start only after contactless payments using debit and credit cards are activated on the Snapper system.
Both dates are yet to be confirmed: Metlink officials said at Thursday’s council meeting contactless payments would start "mid to early April" and it would be up to six weeks afterwards when fares would change.
That means for a passenger commuting between suburbs such as Karori, Khandallah, Lyall Bay and the city centre, rush-hour fares are going up from $4.53 to $4.67, but off-peak fares rise from $3.17 to $3.74. Those paying contactless are charged an extra 1.5% card fee.
Papers from Thursday’s meeting estimated that as things stands, Metlink’s fare revenue this financial year would be about $3 million lower than budgeted, but officials said that number could still change.
It blamed a combination of factors: the number of train passengers continued to fall, while “socio-economic changes” like flexible work arrangements, slower economic recovery and unemployment contributed to an emerging decline in bus passenger numbers.
Councillors were divided on how much to increase the base fare and the timing of the rise, which was slated originally for July.
Council chairperson Daran Ponter’s amendment brought it forward by a few months to soften any financial difficulty.
“We could exhaust all of our transport reserves as a consequence of stuff that is happening on the network right now,” he said. “It means we’ve got no buffer in the next financial year when many of these things could still continue to play out.”
Ros Connelly, the chairperson of the regional council’s public transport committee, said the 3.1% increase was the limit between prudent economic management and what the public could afford. She also wanted any hikes to happen in July.
Councillor Adrienne Staples was in favour of a 4.1% base fare increase to take pressure off ratepayers. "While my personal preference in an ideal world would be to have free public transport across our whole region. It’s not where we work at the moment. We cannot afford to keep going out the back door."
Last year, Metlink increased its fares by 2.2% and dropped the off-peak discount from 50% to 30%.
Thursday’s meeting papers also revealed this financial year’s fares and advertising income would likely make up less than the targeted 25.1% of Metlink’s total revenue, with the next year’s target set at 25.7%.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) laid new expectations for all public transport providers in 2024 to have fares and advertising income make up a specific proportion of its revenue.
NZTA’s target for Metlink was once at 42%, a figure that regional councillors said it would need to hike fares by as much as 70% to hit.
– Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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