Aucklanders hold key to Te Huia train
OPINION: The year-old Te Huia train service between Hamilton and Aucklandmay be best known to most as the go-to example used by politicians in soundbites about wasteful public spending.
The newest long-haul commuter train has nevertheless just notched up record daily patronage of 568, with all six runs effectively full, which offers another interesting lesson about public transport.
Creating a public transport rail link between Aotearoa’s largest and fourth-largest cities was a big call for the Waikato Regional Council, and its first year during the Covid-19 pandemic included a five-month shutdown.
Te Huia, which followed investment of $98 million, had quite a few flaws, some of which have been dealt with, and by Marchwith its first anniversary near, it carried as few as 78 passengers on its three, weekday return trips.
Whenwe build a motorway, it is an investment to cater for traffic growth over decades. If the motorway was at capacity on day one it would be a massive fail.
Even for New Zealand, longhaul commuter trains are not a revolution. The single Palmerston North-Wellington return service, the Capital Connection, has run for 30 years.
The almost two-hour service between Masterton and Wellington has run for 58 years.
It has taken a year of tweaks to get Te Huia into what looks like a viable prospect.
Designed to take Hamiltonians to Auckland, it started with two trips north in the morning, with the trains parked up for the day until taking its passengers back to Hamilton.
The potential of 1.7 million Aucklanders being at one end of the service was initially ignored.
The diesel-hauled train initially terminated at Papakura, where passengers transferred onto Auckland’s electric trains, before extending to Puhinui – allowing a connection to the airport bus – and then further, to the Strand station on the edge of downtown.
Getting access right through to the Strand is only a partial win. The tragic remnant of Auckland’s once-grand railway station is hard to find, and a long walk from true downtown.
There is a nearby bus if you can find it, and are equipped with an Auckland electronic AT Hop card, which is the only form of payment accepted.
It is a gap one might hope Auckland Transport could help with, financial woes or not.
A step forward has been the decision to run a return service south in the morning and back in the afternoon, opening the dayexcursion market to 1.7 million Aucklanders.
That got me onboard, during school holidays, with fares at halfprice, meaning if you are organised, sign-up in advance for the Beecard electronic payment card, an adult pays just $18 return.
SuperGold cardholders, equippedwith the Beecard, travel free – a lure taken up by quite a few on the trip I took, and some were clearly regulars.
Downside – it is only the second northbound train that turns around to do the excursion, meaning the day trip gives you only about two hours in Hamilton.
Strictly speaking, it’s two hours in light-industrial Frankton unless you can manage a trip into the city centre.
The option is to hop off 10 minutes earlier at Rotokauri, a purpose-built transport interchange connecting directly to the California-style, car centric shopping centre The Base, in Te Rapa.
The Te Huia service is excellent. The carriages have been refurbished with free WiFi, there are many tables, a small cafe and an enthusiastic, hardworking crew.
Aucklanders will play a big part in its future growth, and like most public transport services, price, comfort, reliability and easy access are critical.
Like many Auckland services, future growth is about attracting passengers outside the peak commuter market, and Te Huia has many of those elements in place already.