AT targets train fare evasion and graffiti
Transport officer role created in response to impending legislation
Transport officers are being recruited to combat widespread fare evasion on Auckland trains, but a public transport group claims they will be powerless to detain or arrest freeloaders.
Auckland Transport is also tackling attacks on trains by graffiti vandals by gating eight more stations. Currently, only Britomart, Newmarket and Manukau stations are gated.
This follows an incident last weekend at the new Parnell station where a gang of vandals pulled the emergency door release to get inside the train and caused damage.
The so-called graffiti artists often operate in groups and are in and out in a couple of minutes. They are not interested in causing trouble to commuters or staff, an Auckland Transport spokesman said.
As part of Auckland Transport’s safety and fare enforcement (SaFE) project, Auckland Transport has begun a recruitment drive this week for 18 transport officers.
Fare evasion is believed to account for 4 per cent to 6 per cent of ticket revenue on trains.
Vandalism on trains costs about $500,000 a year.
The transport officer role has been created in response to legislation due to be passed by Parliament next month.
Auckland Transport metro operations manager Brendon Main said the legislation is expected to give officers the power to enforce fare payments and issue penalty notices.
The 18 officers will work initially on the western line to test the new legislation and scope of the role.
“We think having staff on the trains with legal powers will help make the trip safer and more comfortable for all our passengers. We think they will deter the freeloaders who think they can travel without a ticket,” Main said.
The Public Transport Users Association said transport officers are a step in the right direction but they will be low paid and not have the power to detain and arrest people or demand proof of identity.
Spokesman Jon Reeves said they are basically parking wardens on trains when what is needed is a dedicated public transport police unit in Auckland and Wellington.
“Railway police are used in the UK, Switzerland, Germany and other first-world countries. With growth on Auckland trains running at 20 per cent a year it’s time we implemented the same style of policing,” Reeves said.
Trains were generally safe to travel on, said Reeves, but with growing violence from high school children and graffiti attacks, policing on trains needs to be seriously looked at.
Work has started gating Manurewa and Henderson stations. Parnell will get gates by the end of the year.
Gates at Otahuhu, Middlemore, Papakura, Papatoetoe and Glen Innes are expected to be completed by early next year. Farmers and orchardists braved a cold but clear morning for the second day of National Agricultural Fieldays, keen to see the inventions that could make their businesses more successful.
Robots gained plenty of attention yesterday, particularly a robotic harvester that promises to help pick some of the more than 3 billion kiwifruit grown in New Zealand each year.
Scientists and engineers working with Waikato and Auckland universities have developed the robot, designed to move along beneath the vines and use an array of cameras to work out where the fruit is.
It will be welcomed by an industry hit by labour shortages, with trials showing it can pick fruit more gently than a human.
Developers say the machine will be ready for the market in three years.
A robotic rover called Farm Junior also showed promise for pasture management.
The machine moves around the farm measuring pasture height, detecting weeds and zapping them with an electrical charge. Steve Dawson from AgInnovators said the software is still being developed but it could eventually be used to carry medical supplies for stock as well. More than 70 inventors, some still at high school, showed off their gadgets in a competition to find the best farm hacks. Among them was
HWatch the videos at nzherald.co.nz an LED light designed to sit under the bonnet of a tractor to stop the common complaint of birds causing tractor fires when they nest in the engine. Student Jock Yarndley, from St Paul’s Collegiate School, said his light disorientates the birds, stopping them nesting.
James Mitchell, another agribusiness student from the college, developed a crowbar-like tool to pull metal staples out of fence posts.
Greg Kane from Now Innovations said his stretcher-like carrying harness would help farmers move new-born calves around their property.
We think having staff on the trains with legal powers will help make the trip safer and more comfortable for all our passengers. Auckland Transport metro operations manager Brendon Main