Auckland's passenger rail network has recorded its busiest week ever during the first seven days of City Rail Link services, with more than half a million boardings, beating a record that had stood since 2019.
A total of 528,007 train boardings were logged between Sunday, September 13 and Saturday, September 19, topping the previous seven-day record of 504,380.
In the week before the City Rail Link opened, the network recorded 325,203 boardings - meaning usage jumped by around 62% in the space of a week.
Patronage peaked at 85,289 boardings last Thursday - just shy of the busiest single days recorded pre-pandemic, over a fortnight in March 2019.
The figures were released by Transport Minister Chris Bishop, who said the result was a strong early sign Aucklanders were embracing the newly revamped train network.
"Punctuality and reliability of train services remained consistently in the mid-to-high 90% range throughout the working week strengthening further as the week went on," he said.
“A strong performance in the first week was important for building confidence in the City Rail Link as a reliable, genuine public transport alternative for Aucklanders who might otherwise choose to travel by car.
"For years, the focus was on getting the City Rail Link built. Now the exciting part begins as we see what Auckland can do with it, joining the great modern cities around the world where fast, frequent rapid transit is part of everyday life.”
Hamish Fitchett from Colliers speaks to BNZ Business Breakfast’s Mei Heron about new figures. (Source: Breakfast)
Sunday's reliability figures were affected by the knock-on effects of an early-morning fire at Waitematā Station, which disrupted extra services planned for opening day.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said there had to now be a focus on growing patronage.
"With AT becoming solely focussed on delivering public transport services from next week, we have an opportunity to build on this strong result, attract more people onto the network, and ensure Auckland gets the full value from this investment," he said.
“Seeing the highest weekly rail patronage ever is a significant milestone. Just as importantly, trains have largely been running on time and delivering the reliability Aucklanders expect.
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"The challenge now is to keep building on this success and continue growing passenger numbers."
Before the opening of the City Rail Link, patronage on Auckland's train system remained down on pre-pandemic levels with recovery lagging well behind buses and ferries.
Rail had been slower to bounce back than other forms of transport, dragged down for years by extended network-rebuild closures.
Service expansion to come
The network opened on a reduced "transitional" timetable that is set to ramp up within six months, with most stations running six trains an hour at rush hour rather than the eight originally intended, and peak waits stretching to as long as 15 minutes.
A first round of improvements had been due in November and December, AT rail services group manager Mark Lambert told Auckland Council's transport committee last month.
That would extend the eight-trains-an-hour service west from Kingsland through to Henderson and stretch evening services on Friday and Saturday nights.
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"Friday and Saturdays in that November and December improvement, we will increase the 15-minute frequencies through to around 11.00 to 11.30pm," Lambert said. He added the operator was also in talks with KiwiRail about improving Thursday nights.
A second round of increases was planned for around February, lifting southern line services between Ōtāhuhu and the city centre and, subject to engagement with KiwiRail, extending improvements through to Pukekohe.
How opening week compares with 2019
The opening week of the City Rail Link now holds the top spot on Auckland's all-time list for train boardings in a Sunday-to-Saturday week.
Opening Sunday drew 56,757 boardings, before numbers jumped to 78,503 on the Monday and climbed past 84,000 on both the Tuesday and Wednesday.
Thursday was the busiest day of the week at 85,289 boardings, after which the count eased to 77,002 on Friday and 62,063 on Saturday.
The Auckland mayor bumped into Breakfast on his commute to Karanga-a-hape Station, revealing 20% more public transport use this morning after 70,000 rides on opening day. (Source: Breakfast)
The figures released today differ from the estimate data put out last week, with the latest count drawn from official AT HOP smartcard and contactless payment-card data.
The pre-pandemic benchmark the network was chasing was set over the first two weeks of March 2019, when daily boardings held in the mid-80,000s across the working week.
The busiest single day in that period was Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at 87,092 boardings, according to Auckland Transport's daily patronage data.
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