New Zealanders have a very high car ownership rate. Even in cities like Wellington and Auckland, where there is a greater convenience of public transportation than the rest of the nation, citizens choose to drive to work. According to Metlink, only 17% of Wellingtonians and 7% of Aucklanders use public transportation as opposed to other cosmopolitan cities with upwards of 50% usage of public transportation. Even third world countries have better transportation systems than New Zealand.
Traffic in Wellington
Joining the Rest of the World
It is time for cities in New Zealand to join the rest of the developed urban metropolises (and even the not-so developed-ones) with the amount commuting we do in public transport. Cities like New York, Seoul, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, and heaps of other cities have massive public transport systems. And there are many other cities which are currently building their own public transport systems. For example, Bangkok, Thailand has been notorious for having traffic jams all over the city. Only when Bangkok recently built its own transit system have conditions greatly improved.
Auckland, which houses about one third of the entire population of New Zealand and has upwards of one million people, only has two and half train lines and only a few buses. These provide less service than public transit systems of many other global cities. There can only be so many roads built to provide for the hoards of traffic which travel in and out of the city. Environmental issues and traffic jams are major problems for such a small nation. New Zealand has a great environment and wonderful scenic views. Why must we destroy it with private vehicles?
Highway towards Auckland
I really don’t mean to put New Zealand down. I love this nation from Wellington to Waitomo, but I wish we can improve the layout of traffic in cities. Our metropolises have a great potential of improving the flow of traffic in and around them, which will enhance the look and feel of our urban environments.
Start Slowly
If public transportation scares you, why not start with using public transport once a week. You will then find that the bus and train system is not as daunting as it might seem and you will start to use public transportation always when going to work, school, or doctors appointments. Me personally being in Wellington for a short amount of time, it seems so much easier to avoid bringing the car into the city centre from the outer-laying suburbs due to the hassle of parking and traffic. Wellington, being so small, is much better to navigate on foot rather than by car.
Budget in Transportation
In terms of budgeting, public transportation is very predictable when it comes to how much you spend a month. You only have to give a certain fixed amount of your income to provide for public transport, whereas a private vehicle leaves you with much more unpredictable costs. Your private car can break down at any time, petrol fees are always swinging up and down, and traffic on the roadways can always build up when least expected (changing the required amount of petrol).
Keep in mind that you can avoid having to pay for petrol and other maintenance costs if you can avoid using a car. And I’m sure most of you can agree that parking in the city can put a hefty weight on your wallet as well. If more people start using public transportation to travel in and out of the city centre, and to navigate the city itself, the entire system will inevitably improve as buses and trains will to have keep up with increasing ridership and will start to run more frequently.
If you start to use public transport more often (which is what we all should be hoping for), definitely buy a monthly bus or train pass or a card that will speed up boarding and exiting (such as the Snapper here in Wellington) as those will save you money from buying the full fare every time.
Greater New Zealand
If enough New Zealanders start taking public transportation to work and school, at least in our larger cities, the infrastructure of the city will improve as this will do improve gridlock. Not only is this better for your budget, but it will also improve the air quality of cities. Not to mention the emission of green house gases into the atmosphere. It will decrease our dependence on foreign oil and imported goods (Japanese and American vehicles) which is better for our economy. All in a day’s work to improve New Zealand.
Buses in Wellington, part of GO Wellington
it’s very catch-22 though: nobody will use public transport because of how terrible it is, and it’s terrible because nobody uses it…its ok in theory to say “take more buses” but when it’s 1 hour 15 minutes from East Auckland to the City, and you never know exactly what time it’s going to arrive or how long it will take, it just becomes that more unreliable…
Having moved from the Netherlands and lived in Melbourne I am amazed by the public transport, or more the lack of it in Auckland! I used to take a train to work and uni for that matter in both countries, every single day. But with the excessive pricing (compared to melbourne, compared to incomes) it is actually more economical for me to drive to work and park my car at work for $2,50. I think Auckland should have never gotten rid of their trams. It will be hard to still implement public transport now, but it will be even harder in 20 years. I think the government should act now and get public transport working! Driving for 10 minutes or taking a bus for over an hour to get to work – that’s a choice easily made…
Where I live in Karori there are buses every 10 minutes to and from the city during the morning and hometime rush hours. They are generally the newer DesignLine buses so have aircon; comfortable seats etc. I spend $32 a week via Snapper. When I compare getting to work in Wellington with cities like London; Leeds or Sheffield it’s easy, comfortable and cheap. In Wellington 90% of residents live within 400 metres (approximately 5 minutes walk) of a bus stop or train station – http://www.metlink.org.nz/statistics/ . There’s no excuse!
Auckland definitely has a much worse system than Wellington. Given Wellingtons size and the amount of buses in Wellington, it is definitely much easier to use public transit. The government should no doubt implement a very efficient system in Auckland, with most of the revenue coming from the state, not from riders.
So instead of giving funds to build more reliable highways and roads, the gov’t should fund for public transport, which will force more people into riding public transit. In cities like London, they charge drivers 16pounds to take their car into the city during the day. If Auckland, Wellington and other cities also come up with ways to charge drivers, public transit will be more easily funded. Perhaps a heavier tax for parking in the city, tolls to come into the city, etc. etc.
Money from the drivers can also be used to create more bike lanes and better pedestrian paths. If the government wants to get serious into fixing the traffic flow of Auckland and Wellington, it will no longer provide money towards roads (or at least a significant amount less).
In response to that Wahid, I do not think that that will work. To show you that, I’ll explain you how this works in Holland. Keep in mind that the Netherlands fits in the space between Auckland and 90 mile beach, and there are 17 million people. Traffic jams are constant, even at 9pm on sunday night. On the radio during peak hour, they only call out traffic jams over 8km. Petrol costs NZ$3,50 per liter, and they are working on a road tax where you pay NZ$0.25 per kilometre, registered with a little box in your car. Do they use more public transport? For sure, but on the number of people, there are still a hell of a lot driving and no one will give up that luxury. Instead of stopping to invest in the roads, witch is something every country should do at all times because traffic by car is still extremely important for our economy, they should use the extra money they’re getting in with ie. the GST increase to invest in public transport. It’s interesting looking at Australia that they can keep their GST on 10%, have 50% higher wages and a public transport AND road system that works.
Don’t get me wrong, I love New Zealand
(Read that immigration!) Every country has things that are just not right or could be done better! 
I agree that it might be wishful thinking, Henry, to just ask people to take the bus and to think that people will no longer drive their cars. The general public needs to speak up about making public transport available so that people will at least have a reasonable option, and that there is some incentive towards taking public transit.
Peter, you seem to be very optimistic about public transport, but that is because you live in Wellington, like myself. And it does seem that taking a bus is a lot more convenient and cheaper in Wellington than driving a car as opposed to conditions up in Auckland.
And you do have a good point there David. But the Netherlands at least has the option of taking public transport. And they are at least taking some action to stop people from driving their cars. In Auckland and other parts of New Zealand there is basically no reason why anyone would stop driving. Which accounts for the increase in roads and reaching capacity very shortly after they are built. It is a vicious cycle.
I can only explain so much in this comment but for example, in the United States, building so many extra roads has lead to many problems. Basically, people tend to think of their commute in time, not distance. People say it takes 20 minutes to get to work, nobody says 30 km. Therefore, when you build and maintain extra roads, you are only allowing people to travel further distances in a shorter amount of time. And soon afterwards, the road will then hit the threshold of capacity leading to a need in more roads and more maintenance. More roads leads to more people traveling further distances, and so goes on the cycle of more roads, more cars, more maintenance, greater distances people are traveling and not to mention the increase in green house gas emissions.
You are right in saying that we should at least maintain roads (I am being biased, I’m a hippy who is against cars), but there needs to be a stop in developing roads further. Otherwise people will never stop driving their cars like you mentioned in your example because it is a convenient luxury. The government needs to stop further making it a luxury that is convenient to all. And even if there ends up being more public transit available, people won’t find a need to use it.
Thanks for all your comments!
Thanks for this blogg…. we are about to raise the fares in Wellington…. here is my response. It is unlikely that the media will publish this…
Greater Wellington Regional Council meeting 9.30am 29th June
Item 9 Fare increase update
http://www.gw.govt.nz/committee-meetings-calendar/detail/6816
Bus, train fare hikes not the way to go! A forecast operational surplus of $1.2 million means the proposed 2010 public transport fare increase is not justified, Regional Councillor Paul Bruce said today.
Wellington Regional Council proposes to raise public transport fares to generate a 3.5% increase in revenue for 2010/11.
Greater Wellington has the highest farebox recovery of any public transport operation in the country, according to figures from the New Zealand Transport Agency.
“Wellingtonians already pay a greater share of the service costs for their bus and train journeys than any other New Zealanders,” said Mr Bruce.
The rise also undermines the Regional Transport Strategy’s objective of increased public transport patronage, and will worsen traffic congestion and its negative impact on the regional economy, said Mr Bruce.
“There are many opportunities improve the structure of off-peak concessions and monthly passes, and to deliver better integrated transport options. One such example would be zero fares for inner city travel for commuters arriving on other contracted services,” Mr Bruce said.
“We saw that free connecting buses to rail services on the Kapiti Coast increased rail passengers and a freed up park and ride car parks.
“We should have something similar for inner city fares. ”There will be a significant recovery in patronage following the delivery of the new Matangi trains next year, along with planned efficiency improvements to the Wellington city bus network,” said Mr Bruce.
“Any revenue increase, apart from GST, should be deferred until June 2011, when the impact of service upgrades and consequent recovery in passenger numbers and revenue will be evident.”
For more information: Cr Paul Bruce, Greater Wellington Regional Council 021 027 19370
Further Background Information: 1: Present bus fares are based on a high price of diesel and low exchange rate which hasn’t eventuated yet, resulting in a gain of $3.4 million, while loss of patronage from trains led to a drop of $0.9m. The net year to date annual operating revenue change is $3.4 – $0.9 = + $2.5m. The full year forecast net operating surplus from operations is now $1.2 million compared to the budgeted deficit of $0.9 million. Operational costs do not justify by themselves, a fare increase!
There are various reasons to believe that the forecast operational surplus may be an underestimate: - We should see a significant recovery following the delivery of the new Matangi trains. However, penalizing present loyal train customers with a fare increase would diminish the feel good factor.
- Improved efficiency of Wellington Bus services in the coming year should also lead to increased patronage. - Forecast fuel price rises will push people back towards public transport - The shut down of Mt Victoria car tunnel for 5 weeks from late December could provide a significant opportunity to promote the public transport alternative.
2: NZTA calculate that Greater Wellington (GW) achieves 55% public transport cost recovery. GW’s transport division obtains a different result due to the inclusion of capital investment recovery. Capital investment recovery should remain with the rate payer who receive corresponding benefits from a movement towards public transport (and active modes).
NZTA study quantifies a reduction from 55% to 50% in firebox recovery as providing $22.14 million economic benefit to the Wellington region, due to decreased traffic volume.
3: Private transport operators are being allowed to dictate the terms of fare concessions. The removal of the Gold Card, the most widely used ticket in the region, will result in 3-zone users facing a 39% increase, 4-zone (eg Upper Hutt-Lower Hutt) 56% based on an average 21-day working month. Here is an opportunity for GW to offer a replacement concession. GW has yet to endorse a smart card. Yet it is assuming Go Wellington will replace the monthly card concession with a Snapper fare product. If GW is now regarding Snapper as a legitimate alternative to cash fare products, then it should ensure that monthly concessions are part of the fare rise package, and request the removal of the $10 surcharge on purchase of the smart card.
4: Free connecting buses to rail services on the Kapiti Coast resulted in increased train passengers and a freeing up of “Park and Ride” car parks.
Greater Wellington Regional Transport Strategy supports a move towards integrated transport systems.
The fare proposal on the table leads to inner city cash fares of $4 per day, in addition to other fares paid to reach Wellington. Inner city fares should be removed for commuters arriving on other contracted services.
5: Zero city fares. A motion passed at a GW meeting earlier this year, requested that GW explore with WCC and local business moving some of the WCC business levy to city fares. $1.2 million is at present being used to offset weekend parking revenue! GW has yet to fully explore this option.
my statement for World Car Free Day in Auckland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aul4Qdk2fnk