CHEAPER BUS FARES PROPOSED
Flat fares proposed along with nationwide ticketing system
Hawke’s Bay’s public transport buses currently have few passengers, have a ticketing system that “frequently fails” and are a loss-making enterprise.
What better time than the present Covid-19 crisis to overhaul the way they are run, with proposed flat fares and a nationwide ticketing system, those in charge say.
A proposed Regional Integrated Ticketing System (RITS) would mean Hawke’s Bay bus users could use the same fare card in nine different regional councils across the country.
In an agenda item to be discussed at a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council meeting on Wednesday, council officers recommend HBRC agrees to implement the RITS bus ticketing system, subject to approval by the New Zealand Transport Agency.
The RITS, a joint project between nine regional councils, would replace an existing system that according to the agenda “frequently fails”.
It could also sit alongside a trial of a simplified fare structure in order to promote bus patronage.
That would see bus fare prices drop to rounded numbers ($1, $2 or $3 depending on age and zone travelled), decreasing the price to take the bus in Hawke’s Bay by 65 per cent in some cases.
HBRC Regional Transport Committee chairman Councillor Martin Williams said the proposal was a step towards a nationally integrated ticketing system.
“This is a classic case of how we can use the Covid-19 situation as an opportunity to leverage positive change in our communities that will benefit both the economy and environment in the longer term,” he said.
“That’s just got to be a good idea. If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that you need to make it easy for people to use public transport, if you want them to get out of cars which are clogging our roads.”
The RITS system is currently operational in Northland and Wanganui. A proposed date for the introduction of the RITS in Hawke’s Bay is August 10.
Williams said the council had already been proposing a flat fare structure on the goBay network to increase patronage.
“We can now bring all this together, trialling the flat fare structure once the new RITS system is up and running, likely by August, with the possibility of free fares remaining until then,” he said.
“We know there is an existing budget deficit around transport, but investing in increased patronage will generate greater patronage of the goBay service and so save the region both money and environmental costs over time while supporting customers who may be struggling financially at present”.
The goBay bus service is running over budget this year and the Subsidised Passenger Transport activity has an estimated year-end deficit of $280,000 (ex GST), to be funded from scheme reserves.
A significant deficit is also predicted for 2020-21, unless major changes are made.
The causes of this over-run includes declining patronage of the bus service, resulting in lower fare revenues and higher required indexation of the bus contract than budgeted, due to fuel and labour pressures.
Bus use was about 5 per cent of the patronage in Hawke’s Bay during alert level 4, increasing to 15 per cent in alert level 3, while goBay buses recorded just 11.1 per cent of their usual patronage in level 3.
Under alert level 2, an estimated patronage of 30 per cent is expected for goBay buses, with the return of schools, among other factors.
In view of this, council officers are proposing making “modest adjustments” to the services to reduce costs, effective in early July 2020.