Intercity buses poised to pick up Te Huia passengers
Intercity buses says it’s well-placed to bump up services between Hamilton and Auckland if Government funding is pulled for the Te Huia rail service trial.
The board of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is poised to make a decision next week about continued multimillion dollar funding for the five-year train trial. It follows a two-year review by the regional council.
Pulling Waka Kotahi funding would mean Te Huia couldn’t carry on.
In an interview yesterday, Sam Peate, chief operating officer of Entrada Travel Group - which runs Intercity - said it was ready to step in if Te Huia stopped running.
The firm currently has 13 bus trips between Hamilton and Auckland a day, and vice versa, said Sam Peate.
Pre-covid the number had been even higher at 20 daily trips each way.
“That demonstrates that we’ve got the scale to flex back up again,” said Peate.
He said Intercity Hamilton-auckland fares averaged $25 but this could drop to as low as $16 for people using flexible passes.
By contrast, a Te Huia Bee Card fare is $18 one way, with this set to rise to $21.60 from July - a move set to boost substantially the percentage of Te Huia costs covered by fares. Discounts on that average are available for regular users.
Asked whether Intercity had lobbied Waka Kotahi or the Government over filling in any gap left by Te Huia’s potential demise, Peate said the bus operator hadn’t been involved in the two-year review of the train service.
But they had talked to Transport Minister Simeon Brown about how the profitability of the Auckland-hamilton route helped sustain bus connections between other regions served by Intercity.
That’s an argument that may go into the mix as the Waka Kotahi board examines the two-year review and the fate of Te Huia funding.
At a meeting of the Waikato Future Proof public transport subcommittee yesterday, Waka Kotahi’s non-voting representative Jessica Andrew confirmed the board was due to consider Te Huia mid-week.
An announcement on the decision was expected the following week.
The multi-agency subcommittee involving the likes of councils, Waka Kotahi and Kiwirail - formally accepted the staff review.
The group also agreed to send the board a letter supporting Te Huia, and recommended Future Proof partners that weren’t Government agencies do the same.
In an interview earlier this week, subcommittee deputy chairperson Angela Strange said the review significantly boosted the case for the Government to continue funding a full five-year trial.
Te Huia was either exceeding or on track to deliver on its targets, she said.
At yesterday’s hui, she stressed the situation didn’t involve a “competition” between rail services and the Waikato Expressway.
“The train gives people options,” she said, arguing for the Government to maintain the trial.
“We’ve got massive aspirations and massive plans [on] where this service could get to but we just need it to continue.”
Sarah Thomson, a councillor from Hamilton city - which put millions of dollars into a Rotokauri station to support Te Huia - was also adamant the service should stay.
“It would be a massive loss to New Zealand Inc if we were to lose Te Huia.”
Waipā’s deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk asked “why wouldn’t we continue?”
“The trends are very, very encouraging and we’ve got to start somewhere.”
Councillor Eugene Patterson of Waikato District Council, which along with the regional council and Waka Kotahi contributes to Te Huia running costs, was worried about wasting investment made so far if the service was canned.
“I understand that this is reasonably heavily subsidised at this stage but getting over the hurdle is what’s happening now.
“If they can it, there’ll be another iteration of it in another 10-15 years time that’s going to cost you four times as much to get to where we are now.”
A message from Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate - who’s in Europe after attending Anzac Day commemorations - also supported continuing Te Huia’s trial.
But she said the city wasn’t planning to chip in further funding.
“Hamilton City Council has not budgeted for this regional initiative, and will not be able to contribute to Te Huia’s future operating costs,” Southgate said.