Metlink fares increase to start from February next year

Penny Gaylor.

Weekly column by Kāpiti's Greater Wellington Regional Council representative Penny Gaylor.

Fares on Metlink services across the region will be increasing in line with inflation from February 2021.

At council last week we settled on a 1.5 per cent increase to maintain Metlink services following a one year funding freeze.

It was in our annual fares review where we were looking at our expectations of revenue and costs to determine what fare adjustments might be required in the year ahead of us to ensure we can maintain good quality public transport services across the region.

We had previously signalled in our current Long Term Plan (LTP 2018-28) that fares would increase in line with inflation from 2019/20 onwards, but at the time decided to freeze any increase for a year.

And since that decision things have changed again. As my colleague Transport Committee chairman councillor Roger Blakeley observed, "We are living in the backdrop of Covid-19, we've seen reduced patronage and fare collection.

"While we've seen a remarkable rebound in people using public transport across the Wellington region, it still leaves ratepayers, the government and public transport users on the hook for any potential shortfall.

"Many people don't know that public transport services are actually funded by three sources: Waka Kotahi (NZTA) as the government, fare paying passengers and ratepayers across the region.

"We have the ongoing commitment of Waka Kotahi and along with this minor increase we believe we will be able to guarantee continued provision of good public transport without pricing it out of the hands of those that rely on it the most."

So here are the numbers on what these increases will pan out for users. Under the changes most bus and rail non-cash fares including Snapper, 10-trip fares, rail monthly and MonthlyPlus passes and Wellington and Eastbourne 30 Day passes will see an average increase of 1.5 per cent.

There will also be a 50 cent increase in adult cash fares for zones 5, 10, 12 and 13, and child cash fares for zones 10 and 12. All other cash fares will remain unchanged.

Cash fares are set at a 25 per cent premium to the Snapper/ten-trip fares and then rounded up to the nearest 50 cent. Therefore increases to cash fares would only be made once the increase rounds up to the nearest 50 cent.