Vaughan Gunson: Making public transport cheaper is 'sensible policy'

Public transport fares will be half price for three months from April 1 after this week's Government announcement. Photo / Michael Cunningham

OPINION

I jumped in my car seat. Or at least it felt like I did. The Prime Minister had just said the Government was going to halve the price of public transport for three months.

My partner was watching Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson's post-Cabinet meeting briefing to the media on her phone as we drove home from work.

The reduction in the fuel tax I was expecting. The announcement of a fare reduction for public transport across the country, not at all.

I got a little emotional, my eyes misted. This was something significant. Finally, a step in the right direction if we truly as a country want to make a meaningful reduction in our carbon emissions. As well as do something about rising living costs for people and families that are struggling.

Making public transport cheaper, and, better yet, free, as I've argued for some time, is just a sensible policy.

And so easily done now. It doesn't require tens of billions of dollars and a timeline that spans decades. The fare reduction took one Cabinet meeting. No reports. No detailed planning and consultation. It will take effect on April 1.

Surely there's a lesson there. If we want, we can move quickly to reduce emissions, cut traffic congestion and improve quality of life.

I know it's a small step, that's not going to cost the Government a lot of money, particularly when the numbers of people using public transport are down due to Covid.

And in one way it's a subsidy to the private transport companies contracted to our councils at a time of low patronage.

But still, it's a move that's got people's attention and hopefully started a mainstream debate.

For many years, people have been arguing for public transport in New Zealand to be free - going back to a campaign and petition launched in 2004 by RAM (Residents Action Movement) for free and frequent public transport in Auckland.

I know people involved in that campaign. They will feel some hope that their hard work over many years could yet see a game-changing shift in transport policy.

It's up to us now to applaud Labour's initiative, take advantage of the cost-saving opportunity to use public transport, and call for a bolder policy move.

The Green Party should launch a nationwide campaign immediately for all public transport in our cities to be made permanently free for everyone. Our local councils should be calling for it publicly. This matters. And there's an opportunity right now, with people talking and perhaps understanding the impact of declining global reserves of cheap oil.

We've united, mostly, as a nation to combat Covid as best we can. Despite the sacrifices, the fear and apprehension, I know many of us have enjoyed feeling that we're doing something together as a country that's meaningful.

Free public transport in our cities, funded from the collective tax pool, could also unite us. Giving us hope that together, we can do something about the climate change threat, and the oil price threat.

It would make a splash even on the world stage, like going nuclear-free.

A whole country making public transport free would encourage debates and campaigns in other countries. New Zealand would be a genuine world leader, not a climate change laggard, as we've been for too long.

The morning deadline for getting this column in is approaching. When I've finished, I'll be walking out the front door to stand by the letterbox and wait for the Ritchies van that runs from Hikurangi to town via Kamo every Thursday.

I will be hopping on with extra satisfaction knowing the country, if we choose it, could be on the cusp of a transformative new era of public transport.

That vision might seem a long way from a small passenger van transporting me from a rural town to a modest-sized regional city, with a smattering of other people. Yet, for the first time in a while, I'm feeling that change is within reach.