Auckland bus fares to climb up to 8pc

By STUART DYE



Bus fares will go up as much as 8 per cent from next week as companies feel the pinch of rising fuel prices.

Auckland's two main bus service providers, Stagecoach and Howick & Eastern, said details of the changes would be available from today.

The average fare increase will be just over 6.6 per cent, though some services will not see any rise.

Bill Dalbeth, managing director of Howick & Eastern, said it had been almost four years since bus fares went up.

"In that time bus company costs, as measured by a PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey, have increased by 13.3 per cent," he said.

Stagecoach managing director Bill Rae blamed a 19 per cent rise in fuel prices over the last 12 months, but said other costs had also increased significantly.

"We are now carrying eight million more passengers per year than we were in 1998, using 100 more buses and almost 200 more drivers."

Wages, tyres and insurance had all gone up and inflation had totalled 9.7 per cent since the last change in bus fares, he said.

"Our fare increase, on average, is much less than the rate of inflation."

An Auckland Regional Council survey, released earlier this month, of public transport passengers arriving in the central business district in the morning peak, found a 5.5 per cent slump in bus use since last year, but more train and ferry use.

Stagecoach followed the announcement on price rises with the launch of cheaper monthly passes. About 20 per cent of the 815,000 bus trips in a normal week are taken on monthly passes.

"Over the past year passenger growth has stalled in Auckland," said Mr Rae. "We had a great couple of years with the booming foreign student market and the America's Cup, but those two factors aren't there any more."

Stagecoach will offer discounted monthly passes from August 1 to October 31. A One Zone pass, normally up to $80, will be available for $49, and an All Zones pass will be down to $79 from $129.

Mr Rae said bus users could save up to 80 per cent of the cost of driving to work and parking a car.