My Account
Councillors have called on Auckland Transport to flesh out its unfavourable farebox recovery figures.
At the Transport and Infrastructure Committee on November 16, Auckland Transport (AT) gave a ferry update which included a look at the subsidies.
AT’s executive general manager, Stacey van der Putten, said ferry services had been substantially compromised and the cost per passenger had increased significantly.
“Fares ranged from 100 percent recovery to 34 percent in 2019. Last financial year it ranged from seven percent to 35 percent – the key message here is it will take time to rectify the service provision. We do have a plan,” van der Putten said.
She said the change was due to escalating labour costs as well as diesel.
“The forward plan is to get back up to a reasonable and sustainable farebox recovery.”
Committee chair, Cr John Watson, said the subsidy breakdown did not paint ferries in the best light but a study through the Ministry of Transport last year put things in perspective.
“Farebox cost recovery was 25 percent for buses across New Zealand as a whole, 29 percent for train and 54 percent for ferry,” he said. “The net subsidies then, across the modes, are nearly 70 percent for bus, 27 percent for train and four percent for ferries,” Watson said.
He said that some communities were built around ferry services and that is why the service needs to be restored.
“The ferry service is almost a reflection of the community’s identity and in some instances has been the basis for the development of that community,” Watson said.
Cr Wayne Walker said he wanted more information around the subsidy and for the figures to be broken down in future reports.
“There is a contribution from Auckland Transport, and there is also a subsidy from Waka Kotahi – we are interested in the cost per passenger, after all of that,” Cr Walker said.
Ferry services manager, Gareth Willis, said the subsidy was structured the same across bus, train and ferry.
“We have the annual gross price, we then deduct off the farebox that has been recouped for that service and then the balance is split 51 percent to Waka Kotahi and 49 percent to council,” Willis said.
Cr Walker said that regular updates on the ferry service should also include a breakdown of the costs.
