City rail gunning for fare cheaters

Photo / Greg Bowker

Auckland Transport is seeking a law change so it can fine fare-dodgers on trains.

It is working with government agencies to ensure it will be able to take action against the fare cheats from the middle of next year.

Chief operating officer Fergus Gammie told his board last week that all parties agreed enforcement legislation was needed.

But it was not possible to have passed before this year's election.

His organisation intends introducing full ticket checks to Britomart during morning peak periods for two days a week from this month, but the best it can do in the meantime is to bar fare evaders from trains.

Mr Gammie presented a report which estimated the number of rail passengers travelling without tickets had fallen from 9.7 per cent during a survey in 2008 at Britomart, to 2.8 per cent in November.

But even the lower figure meant lost revenue from more than 250,000 rail trips a year.

Mr Gammie attributed the decline to a combination of factors, including more ticket outlets and train crews targeting "at risk" groups such as schoolchildren.

The report drew a sceptical response from board member and Auckland Council transport committee chairman Mike Lee, who doubted whether so many fare evaders would have "gone straight" since 2008.

He said he was stunned to learn that fare evasion in 2008 was close to 10 per cent.

"We always understood from the [former] Auckland Regional Transport Authority that it was about 6.5 per cent but 10 per cent is quite remarkable - about $2 million a year [in lost revenue]."

Auckland Transport chief executive David Warburton acknowledged there may be some margin of error in the latest figure but said a new enforcement system would tighten estimates and make it easier to prevent fare evasion.

He was referring in part to the proposed teams of roving ticket inspectors on trains from the end of this year who will have portable ticket machine readers.

Ticket barriers will also be installed next year at Britomart and Newmarket to tighten the net.

Dr Warburton said Auckland Transport recognised fare evasion as one of its most important issues.

It would become even more important as rail patronage and services grew.

The organisation's chairman, Mark Ford, meanwhile welcomed a 10.3 per cent increase in public transport patronage in May against the same time last year.

He believed the great result of increased patronage showed the growth needed to support a $2.4 billion central rail tunnel.

Mr Gammie reported a monthly patronage figure of 6.3 million passenger trips, contributing to a 12-month figure of 65.4 million.

Rail patronage for the 12 months until the end of May grew by 1.27 million trips to 9.69 million, an increase of 15.1 per cent.

That included 448,943 passenger trips on the Onehunga branch line since it reopened in September.