More Aucklanders using public transport

By JASON COLLIE transport reporter

The number of commuters daily using public transport to travel into Auckland's central business district has topped 20,000 for the first time in 11 years.

Public transport advocates said yesterday that the figure - recorded in this year's annual passenger count of the morning peak taken by the Auckland Regional Council - was proof that patronage was growing after the slump of the 1990s.

It was a rise of 11 per cent on 1999, with ferries and trains making the biggest gains, 24 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.

It is estimated 34,700 people drive into the CBD daily.

The annual study had not broken the 20,000 barrier since 1988, when the count was around 25,000. No count was done the following year because of a bus strike and then passenger numbers progressively dropped to below 15,000 in 1994.

It does not record public transport in other areas of Auckland.

Auckland Regional Council transport director Barry Mein was encouraged by the count, although he said it had to be remembered that it was taken over two days only.

"We have seen an upward trend and this is the best annual increase we have had for a number of years," he said.

"It is not necessarily indicative of the rest of the network, but information we are getting is that it's growing."

While Auckland's population had grown, he said, the number of people coming into the CBD to work had declined through businesses moving out and more people living in the central city.

Buses carried 16,804 people, the vast majority of passengers. Ferries carried 2193 passengers and trains 1104 people.

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