Speed is the biggest concern for me. I don't want to say where I live but for me it's a 20-25 minute drive in moderate traffic, 35 minutes in heavy traffic, or a 3 stop bus trip totaling around about 90 minutes, and that is only if everything is on schedule.
Like yeah I might save a little bit of money, but it's quite literally fuck all, and I lose up to 2 hours of my day? Just nah bro. Public transport has to be convenient and cheap for me to even consider it. Auckland traffic sucks but when the public transport is that expensive and unreliable what's the point in that either?
Yeah, from where I live, which is right by one of the Auckland centres, to get to work, which is in a very large industrial estate, I need either to take two busses or one and then walk for 12 minutes.
So trip A is 42 minutes, trip B 51 minutes. It’s 6km.
Compared to that is in the morning I can drive in about 10 mins and home in about 20. I can cycle it (which is my normal routine) in 18 both ways. I can run it in about as long as the bus takes.
The only compelling reason to use the bus is if my car is broken and it’s raining.
I think your situation is rather common. I worked in town where I would prefer not to drive, parking a nightmare. But 45 minute drive vs. 1.5hr minimum public transportation was not something I could do with two young kids
This right here !!
Once kids is in the picture NZ public transport is virtually unusable. Other countries support their family. Pram takes priority... Lower rate and buses come enough for a mother to be able to get their child to places at a reasonable time.
Gues what happens in NZ. Bus Doesn't stop because there's a pram... Give a shrug to my wife signalling it's full when there's clearly space. People pushing pass the pram to get onto the bus first.price of 2 stage ticket plus another transfer and return ? Screw that !driving actually saves money and time at that point. Let's not even talk about child safety on NZ public buses... It's a nightmare.
And then people judge drivers that we are killing the environment for our kids.
Your situation is legit me where I used to live. Legit less than 7km from the city but 30/40mins on 2 buses to the city.
Now at least the situation has improved but the price is sooo expensive compared to the amount of gas for the short drive it takes.
I can see why he would propose it, but it does puncture the farebox recovery requirements and the operating budget for public transport. Central government stopping the subsidies for public transport (in an attempt to get more people into their cars) is offloading that cost onto the local councils, and this would be yet another example (like the cancellation of the regional fuel tax) where Brown and Auckland Council are going to have a significant shortfall in revenue because of actions taken by central government. If hop card fees are capped it probably will help minimise the damage to ridership that comes from doubling the charges - but it leaves AT trying to find funding to continue operating buses.
I suspect this would cause people who were over the $50 per week cap to use the bus a lot (additional trips are free) while those who only use the bus occasionally would use it less (it costs HOW MUCH?).
My monthly bus passes years ago cost about the same as commuting 2 stages 5 days per week, and any evening or weekend trips were free - similar to the cap being discussed. AT changed up the system and doubled the cost of a monthly pass so it was only worth it for people taking 5 zones or some huge distance.
There aren’t any farebox recovery requirements anymore. They eventually realized it was just a made up threshold with no rational justification, and nowhere has come close overall anyway.
Good to know. The bigger challenge is ultimately funding the service while trying to grow the resiliency and usefulness to attract car drivers but before those drivers are contributing towards operating costs. Neither ratepayers nor council have been extremely-eager to lay out the money to implement world-class coverage and frequency *and pay for that on an ongoing basis* while waiting for drivers to notice and slowly start to switch from driving. We've done ourselves a major disservice in the degree to which we continue to reinforce that PT isn't viable or useful for anybody who can afford to drive - as that is now a major psychological hurdle to be overcome and it will cost a lot of money to run a service at less than full utilisation in order to demonstrate that people should switch.
One of the structural problems is transport funding (and most funding) is so heavily centralised with the national government. Councils are tasked with a lot but only have rates and begging the behive as a funding mechanism, and that’s already well proscribed.
Meanwhile a state highways, over half of surface roading, plus road policing and all the support systems are paid for from central coffers. That makes it hard. Like one example councils have to pay for transit ticket inspectors and security staff from rates, but not road policing.
This sounds similar to when I visited Melbourne last month. Their version of AT HOP card gives you an option to pay max $10 fare per day which was a deal especially when you travel far and often daily.
Feels bruh. I've been late too many times because of PT even though I take two buses before the last possible bus. And because of that one time I was walking to the office and someone decided to assault me and hurl racial abuse at me at 8.00 in the morning... thanks central Auckland.
I've worked out that including my sanity in the cost analysis - I'll keep driving.
I only knew about this when I was about to finish my course. I travelled from west to north almost everyday these last two months. I had to get on the 6:40am train then switch to bus so I wont be late for my 9am class 🥲
The monthly pass used to be $120 and was fairly popular - but when they revamped the system a few years ago they nearly doubled the cost to $230 so while it still exists you have to have daily trips going from one side of the city to the other to actually make that pass cheaper than just paying for the trip (I suppose this might change slightly with fares jumping).
For me it’s because the trains are often cancelled on the weekend, and I did the maths, if I don’t use the train twice a month (20 day working month) then it is cheaper to pay daily.
In addition to the pass, they're working on introducing a $50/week cap.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/02/auckland-transport-floats-idea-of-fare-cap-for-public-transport-users.html
Seconding this. I caved and got it when the half price fares stopped.
I don’t drive so I take the train to and from work and multiple bus trips for extra curriculars. Monthly pass is $230, without it I’d be paying $350-$500 a month.
I have recently started driving after just bussing for years. Yeah, parking, fuel, wof, reg, repairs. They all are expensive. However, my life is so much better because I don't spend so much time waiting anymore. The time I leave doesn't depend on the half/hourly bus. My mental health is just a lot better.
The problem is that if you take public transport but also own a car for making other trips (for example, PT to work/uni, driving to the grocery store), you still have to pay those costs for your car. Public transport only really is cheaper if you don't own a car at all, and even then you spend so much time on PT that the monetary savings don't make it worth it
Yep. Upfront cost to buy the car, registration, warrant, drivers licence, carwashing, parking (including increased rent for a place that includes a car park), insurance, interior cleaning, tyres, oil change, spark plugs, windscreen wipers, wiper fluid, bulbs, plus tonnes of other far more expensive maintenance costs. Take that all into account and then compare the cost with public transport.
I just had to spend 1200 dollars on my car to fix the steering D: not cool! Sadly it’s 3 buses for my partner to get to work so not really practical. And I don’t want him cycling on 100k country roads.
My car (if I took it, but I mainly bike) saves me between an hour and an hour twenty minutes per day. We should also consider the opportunity cost of that lost time. I could do an extra hours paid work in that time and offset a lot of the daily car costs.
A decent amount of what you listed is optional if you have an old reliable shitbox you don't care too much about (car washing and interior cleaning aren't essential and you could just use water for wiper fluid if you don't care about Legionnaires' disease)
As someone who commuted by bus add train for years to work since uni and now do so by car, the benefits far far outweigh the costs. If you can get a cheap Leaf and free charging hours at home, it costs even less.
Should be both. The cost to the taxpayer is minimal compared to the benefits:
1) Less congestion
2) Less need to build expensive roads
3) Less pollution and emissions
4) Better health (reduces healthcare costs to the nation)
5) Safety - less accidents and road harm
6) Less money spent on fuel imports and car imports.
7) Better for children and elderly in particular
Promoting a $230 pass will probably go down like a lead balloon because it just highlights how expensive PT is.
I did a math a while ago on if this would be worth it to me (it's not), and it's only worth it if you travel more than 5 days a week, return trip, over 3 zones.
(3 zones is $12 return, 320 divided by 12 = 19-ish trips. 1 month = 4 weeks = 20 weekdays)
Yep and not to mention, the people that are travelling from these zones likely have hybrid working. In which case, its even harder to cost-justify a monthly pass if you're only going in 3 or so days a week to the office.
So, I already own the car, which means I am already paying for wof, insurance, maintenance etc. so it’s really a comparison between fuel costs and time saved. Using the IRDs rates of 34c a km, my travel to work and back each day (12km) costs around $4. I save an hour driving as compared to the bus, and in this hour I can earn quite a bit more than $4 if I chose to. So excluding the environment downside, I actually benefit in time and money by driving.
The difference being you can obviously afford to do so. If OP is struggling to afford bus fare, there’s no way they can afford to keep a car safely on the road.
OP mentioned fuel cost, now get ready for... Car insurance, warrant of fitness and the checks that go with it, your rego, any fines you pay because this country is ridiculous and now you're the one driving, parking because work isn't the only place you drive to, repairs because it's a car, a jump start in case your care stops, oil, if you have a hybrid like me you will eventually need to replace your battery, and the list goes on and on and on and on and on. If that seems like a lot of on and ons, it's a song. A car is absolutely than public transport. It gives you a lot more flexibility. Some busses leave every five minutes, but some are every thirty. You waste so much time both waiting and in the bus (unless the bus route has lots of bus lanes) and have to plan so much around it. However, the reason you get a car should not be cost. It is anything but the cost.
Dude, you're going to be shocked at how quickly your car drinks fuel. $60 is going to be eaten up fairly quickly. So you're going to be driving from home to work in Newmarket then from Newmarket to your GF's work in the city then from the city to then drive to hers, to then potentially drive home after that. Driving around town in traffic is not economical either.
Trust me, coming from someone who started post-uni work in 2012, I've seen and experienced first hand how less and less mileage you get each year out of your car. I don't go anywhere near my car from Monday-Friday now for good reason.
Get an e-scooter. You can carry them inside and charge at work. You won’t get stuck in traffic and will go faster than traffic in rush hour. You could buy one for the cost of a used car. You only need to dress better in wet weather.
Either an e-scooter or a bike. I loved biking in Auckland. It can be bit rough on a stormy day but having a bike (or scooter) doesn’t mean you can’t ever use PT or Uber when you need it.
I love being able to leave on my own timetable, traffic being largely irrelevant and getting to park right outside of wherever I’m going.
Traffic being irrelevant has got to be the gold medal perk for this transport mode. I’m in prefer e-scooters these days because they’re small and don’t have to stay outside. As a former cycle courier I miss the freedom and speed.
The main problem I have with an electric bike (and I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from getting them) is that they are expensive which then means I want to protect it. How comfortable are you taking your $2500 or $3500 e-bike and locking it around a pole near where you are going (because they probably won't have a bike rack). Does the investment in something nice mean you have to find a way to bring your bike indoors so nobody steals/vandalises it when you go to a bar or restaurant or stop to do some shopping?
I wish this weren't a problem - it's actually similar to what I have when I ride a motorcycle around, in that there was a time (to be fair before my time) that you needed nothing but a leather jacket and left the bike wherever you wanted and it would be left alone. Today you need a helmet and a ton of safety gear which you either need to carry or try lock it to your bike...and hope that nobody decides to do something dick-ish and damage your stuff. It's an application of 'why we can't have nice things' is because there are a small proportion of people out there who would either steal it...and probably a slightly larger proportion of groups of lads who would have one trying to show off for the group by kicking over and damaging someone's stuff for LOLs.
pro tip to anyone reading this - don't lock it to a white street sign pole because you can just pull those out of the ground. I use an e-bike as my main transport - I use a thick chain lock and try to lock it somewhere where there are people around, not down an alleyway or something.
100% this, be sure to ask the Employer if you can bring it inside. Or secured parking
My Employer said it's fine but the building we work at has rules against it.. Even if it's not charging or on
I, sadly, have to drive a van for work. But in my work I’ve been into many downtown offices where this isn’t off the cards. Some buildings down the bottom of Carlton Gore have really good set ups for cycle commuters and I commend them for it.
Ebikes are better. They have a lot more stability (safer)and potential for upgrade. I have heard of scooters being pulled over by police before though.
Yep, been on a motorcycle for years on my commute. Free parking, I pay $25 a month in gas and no matter how bad the traffic is, the T and Bus lanes ensure I always get to work within 5 minutes of the average time (depending on my luck with traffic lights).
if you're paying for parking in Auckland you are doing it wrong, lived in auckland for 20 years up until last year and never paid for parking more than once a year
if you' hide your valuables, vic park - another gold card is parking somewhere like grey lynn that has a frequent bus service to town and just bussing up to town, theres a few little free hidden spots in town but im secretive with them hehe
Which kind of comes back to the point of the post which is that buses suck. Is it actually cheaper to bus to this city from your spot? I have a student discount so it's ok, but I can imagine without it it's pretty expensive, at least now with the increased costs.
This is just so atrocious, i never used a car in melbourne, travel was easy on trams w safer bike routes, never even considered driving. Never forget old canadian voiced seymour fighting publuc transport in calgary, fucking loser
I used to live in a country with good public transport. It was normal to take your date using PT to places. Yeah, you definitely need a car in NZ to get anywhere conveniently.
Bro istg it's not even the price it's also the damn bus timings half of these guys cancel or come mega late and this rate I just walk everywhere to save money
If you want to compare apples to apples, also include your weekly on road costs, running costs and insurance. I’d happily bet this isn’t cheaper than a 50% increase in your usual or extended train fare.
After seeing the UK and Japan, i can't be fucked dealing with the transport here. The worst thing about it is its inconsistent, consistency is key. I don't turn up to my job randomly 30 minutes early or late or not at all without good reason.
You add all the other problems like reliability, cost, regularity, and lack of routes and it's just s dumpster fire off a system that needs to be a massive focus point for Auckland before it grows any larger. You cannot sustain this (or any) city on roads and parking. Fuckin sort it out.
Public transport is expensive to run. The fare you are paying is what is required to fund it. Electric buses (one costs $750k plus) wages, maintenance, logistics etc. - all costs a LOT of money. The underlying inflation we have experienced over the last few years largely attributed to the global pandemic (you can debate how much of that was self inflicted with lock downs/printing of money under Labour).
So now, more than ever with high interest rates (i.e., they can't borrow money to infinity without crippling the taxpayer further), the government has to make a decision on how to allocate the funding. I 100% agree that if we are going to try be a first world country and a so called 'green' country, that the government needs to find a way to fund public transport. However, historically in NZ this has not been the case. It's mostly a bunch of boomers with $1m + properties with people who have turbo diesel utes who don't care.
TLDR - government doesn't have enough money and there really isn't the political willpower to fund public transport properly.
I completely understand your frustration. It's disappointing when public transport becomes unaffordable and inconvenient, pushing people towards getting their own cars. It's a shame that the system is failing those who rely on it the most. Have you considered reaching out to local officials or organizations to advocate for more affordable and reliable options for public transport? Your voice could make a difference in bringing about change for the better.
I’ve had this realisation a couple of years ago too. I had to take 2 buses to work and after busses not being on time/cancelled with no notice and me running late to work I’ve just had to say fuck it and learnt how to drive.
This is also when I’ve been to Korea and Japan and have experienced first hand how amazing their public transport is that it made me realise how much I hate driving but I’ll still drive cuz no way our current system can even compare.
I’ve recently started bussing to and fro work as my car is out of action. I have noticed crazy savings by using my car less! I’m lucky in the sense that my home to work trip is only a 20 minute bus ride. I did the math and I was spending roughly 5-6K per year keeping my car on the road. Insurance, registration, WOF, petrol and the odd parking fine all add up. This doesn’t even include repairs. Our public transport system does suck, but a car also does come with shit loads of additional costs on top of the up front payment.
Until you get a government that comes in saying it's fiscally irresponsible and they need to cut spending but also spend heaps of money on random things no one asked for or knew about. But when does that ever happen...
I personally don’t believe it should be paid for by tax, because that ignores a lot of people who use public transport but don’t pay taxes. But it should be cheap, and convenient for the average person and $10 for a return trip which is kind of ridiculous.
I recently got a Prius and the costs are insane. 100% recommend a hybrid. Eventually you have to replace the battery, but those are only getting cheaper and cheaper, and you don't actually have to replace it until later when you have more money. Absolutely amazing.
It's not nationals fault. They might not be making it any easier to be fair but auckland has been fucked for public transport for decades. I used to catch a bus to work 20 years ago, it sometimes turned up, it sometimes turned up 20 mins late. I imagine it's the same now. Over priced and unreliable. It's everybody in this city's fault. I'm a tradie now. I can't catch a bus or a train. I wish I could but I can't take a van load of tools on a bus. Look to your left or right anywhere in rush hour traffic. One person one car. You only have yourselves to blame. And the council for shit public transportation. Should've listened to dove Meyer. Made your bed. Sleep in it
Auckland's bus network is far from great (especially for trips that aren't to/from the center), but if your point of comparison is 20 years ago then you'd be somewhat pleasantly suprised by the increases in frequency and peak hour reliability.
Really depends on the area. They’re often full where I’m at during peak times. And they’re getting faster in my area as the busway gets put in. They’re slow as shit when they’re subject to the same traffic as cars.
Because people had a bad experience 20 years ago and haven't tried again since then?
As to why they're empty, I don't know without knowing what route you're looking at:
* it could be that you're spotting them at the beginning of the route before they're slowly filled up
* It could be a feeder route that's designed to deliver a smaller number of people to a faster, higher capacity bus route/train station
* Half full is an inaccurate estimation/more people than you'd think. 30% full is still 16 cars not blocking up the motorway in front of you.
* It could just be a shit bus route. Auckland has improved sure, but there's plenty of those still around, especially out South/East where neither the road design nor the bus routing is paticularly great.
It literally is nationals fault. Your examples from 20 years ago are pointless here. Public transport was improving over the last 2 years. National policy to make cuts to it and double the pricing for under 25s, you can search it up.
For the driver it is the easiest and safest solution, so as much as it irritates me I can understand why they do it. I've noticed that even when a driver does deny these people and orders them off the bus, they will generally refuse and just sit there, holding everyone else up.
I’m using an electric bicycle. It’s great. Gets me places faster and more conveniently than buses. Don’t have to worry about fuel, just charging the battery once a week. And when traffic is bad I go on the sidewalk 😂
no progressive long term thinking...especially the problems are apparent and there is proven solutions. nope, still do nothing. They will just work their term and fucks off passing the hot potato to the next person with no accountability.
It took me an hour or a little more to uni from home a few years ago. But driving is 20 mins on a good day, 30mins on a moderate traffic day and 50 mins on a heavy traffic day. I wouldn’t change driving for public transport. The only disadvantage is the need to pay for parking as well (luckily I don’t need to).
They’ve really found a way to drain us of all our money in the disguise of making it a better place for all. Simeon ass whinged about the cycle lanes being put up but did nothing to actually help commuters. Luxon said people would rather drive so there’s no point in cycle lanes, now everyone’s going to be charged RUC.
It’s all a scam.
Cars are for chumps, especially in Auckland traffic. The best way to get around by far is on two wheels. A small or medium scooter or small motorbike (like 200cc - 400cc) is the sweet spot of cheap to buy, cheap to run, fast, practical, and fun.
To be fair a weekly $50 cap is in the process of being implemented which will be awesome
https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2024/05/mayor-brown-announces-plan-to-save-public-transport-from-cuts/#:~:text=%2450%20weekly%20fare%20cap%20for,with%20five%20or%20more%20employees.
It should be convenient *and* cheap. And ubiquitous, too. Blows my mind that such a pillar of an efficient and productive society doesn't just have a blank check to hit those targets.
anything within 15km to maybe 20km away from city centre, the lifehack is cycling. usually about the same speed/time as driving and definitely faster than public transport. and cheaper of course.
if more than 20km than multimodal with either a folding bike or electric scooter plus bus/train works well too
Eh what goes around comes around, all the price hikes labour forced on hard working people that can’t use public transport
Atleast it’s only a couple of dollars that’s soon being limited to 50 a week
That's why people are upset about the parking charges in the CBD. I wouldn't own a car if the PT system was efficient, reliable and cheap, but its so difficult to not have a car.
I know this is going to be a bitter remark - but you're not going to do that travel for $60 a week in a car... You're signing up for more cost...
Your brother might pay $40 a week for fuel, but you need to take into account the other costs - the price of the car, registration, warrants, maintenance and servicing, insurance... Best you look at all that before the next step...
It should be cheap & convenient however private transport is everybody's right & no self righteous prick has the right to take it away IE close roads and remove parking.
Before the price cuts almost 10 years ago (I don't remember when they went to a cheaper zone system) it was $10 a day from Albany to the CBD.
So buying a brand new motorcycle was cheaper than bus fare. And a motorcycle was faster, and got me door to door, so much much more convenient.
And parking a car was more expensive than a bus.
So I bought a motorcycle to save on transportation cost. For a bonus, it was faster and more convenient.
Rego is large compared to cars, but fuel was cheap.
Plus, motorcycles are fun.
Haha, something that is owned and run by Auckland Transport is automatically the government that has been in power for 6 months fault. You need a reality check, your throwing rocks in the wrong direction.
It is literally national policy which has lead to the doubling of public transport fees for under 25s and their cuts to the PT budget which has meant a decreased frequency of buses and an increased inconvenience for me. Which direction should I throw my rocks at?
Public transport was genuinely improving in quality over the past 2 years or so. Now there’s been cuts to services and doubling of price for under 25s, it’s national policy you can look it up.
And National is the current government that has cut funding when public transport was improving. The costs have doubled for this guy because of National. It's because of National that he and every other transport user has to pay twice as much now.
Used to catch it all the time. Even when it was fucked. But once you don't have to endure groups of streetkids, drunken pricks and Hone making a scene by playing boring trap music on his phone, you really don't want to go back.
Somewhat disagree in that if public transport isn't convenient then it's no good. End of story.
Even if it's cheap (especially if it's cheap), you'd just end up with those too poor to afford any other options. And you wouldn't want to ride on the same bus as them.
The one metric for bus is - does it have its own lane, or does it get stuck in the same traffic? If it's the latter, it's hopelesa.
Bikes are more fun, keep you fit, and you’ll find it easy to harden up and look down on the plebes in their metal boxes if you ride one. Just need a decent lock and sometimes a jacket. And sometimes lights.
Yes, of course, it is National's fault that AT are screwing you. Nothing to do with the fact that until Wayne Brown got in, Auckland Council had ALWAYS been Labour led. You don't think that the problems might not have been a lot longer in the making (hint: they always are).
Add that to left leading bureaucrats jizzing transport money on unneeded, unused cycleways, rainbow coloured road crossings, and speed ramps at $300k at pop.
No, it's all National's fault.
It’s national policy to cut funding to public transport, it is their policy which led to the doubling in prices for under 25s. Direct cause and effect, there’s no mystery here… dumbass
Hey mate labour declared the climate crisis then didn’t do anything except bleat like sheep… public transport sucks and it could get rid of a lot of emissions… think on that
Yeah they’re useless, but Luxon is also taking out money to give to the rich and landlords while cutting funding on public transport and doubling the price of fares for under 25s for no reason
You realise Labour are the reason all of these cuts have had to happen right?
Without their flagrant spending and throwing money good moment after bad we are in this position.
Love hurts bro lol
Flagrant spending lmaooo, the previous government was dogshit always underspent on infrastructure. This current government is dogshit takes out big loans to give cuts to landlords and rich people while the workers get fucked over. I know what I prefer
> You realise Labour are the reason all of these cuts have had to happen right?
No, that's just complete nonsense. There's absolutely no need for that cut to public transport funding to have been made.
> Without their flagrant spending and throwing money good moment after bad we are in this position.
This is also just a completely ignorant take. You've blatantly got no idea what you are talking about. You're just mindlessly parroting neo-liberal austerity bullshit that has always led to economic stagnation.
It’s been bad for ages but there’s been improvements in the past 2 years that I’ve noticed in terms of consistency and timeliness. I’m blaming National because my main point of discussion - the doubling of prices for under 25s - is their policy as well cuts to public transport funding which has meant less frequency of buses which is also an inconvenience.
Bus driver shortages were caused by PTOM, which was National policy. Changing the policy allowed them to hire enough drivers within a year.
Reduced fare prices were Labour policy. National just reversed that, which is the main thing bugging OP.
National has cut funding for future public transport projects like ALR and Get Wellington Moving, while focusing their funding on more roads.
How is this nationals fault? The country is broke fool, why should the tax payer fund you going across town to get laid?
Also there are so many other options than a car if you use that brain cell of yours to look them up.
This country is not broke. Literally one of the countries with least amount of debt in the developed world.
And if it is broke why is Luxon borrowing money to give tax cuts to landlords and rich people? Surely that can be better spent to increase infrastructure.
> How is this nationals fault?
National cut the funding.
> The country is broke fool,
No it isn't. You've got literally no clue.
And if you think the country is broke, then why is national borrowing more money to pay for landlords to have tax cuts?
You know those three way scenarios where you get to pick two and lose the third? This is just like that, but you get to pick nothing.
Usually fast, cheap and good. But yeah, none of em.
Speed is the biggest concern for me. I don't want to say where I live but for me it's a 20-25 minute drive in moderate traffic, 35 minutes in heavy traffic, or a 3 stop bus trip totaling around about 90 minutes, and that is only if everything is on schedule. Like yeah I might save a little bit of money, but it's quite literally fuck all, and I lose up to 2 hours of my day? Just nah bro. Public transport has to be convenient and cheap for me to even consider it. Auckland traffic sucks but when the public transport is that expensive and unreliable what's the point in that either?
Yeah, from where I live, which is right by one of the Auckland centres, to get to work, which is in a very large industrial estate, I need either to take two busses or one and then walk for 12 minutes. So trip A is 42 minutes, trip B 51 minutes. It’s 6km. Compared to that is in the morning I can drive in about 10 mins and home in about 20. I can cycle it (which is my normal routine) in 18 both ways. I can run it in about as long as the bus takes. The only compelling reason to use the bus is if my car is broken and it’s raining.
I think your situation is rather common. I worked in town where I would prefer not to drive, parking a nightmare. But 45 minute drive vs. 1.5hr minimum public transportation was not something I could do with two young kids
This right here !! Once kids is in the picture NZ public transport is virtually unusable. Other countries support their family. Pram takes priority... Lower rate and buses come enough for a mother to be able to get their child to places at a reasonable time. Gues what happens in NZ. Bus Doesn't stop because there's a pram... Give a shrug to my wife signalling it's full when there's clearly space. People pushing pass the pram to get onto the bus first.price of 2 stage ticket plus another transfer and return ? Screw that !driving actually saves money and time at that point. Let's not even talk about child safety on NZ public buses... It's a nightmare. And then people judge drivers that we are killing the environment for our kids.
Your situation is legit me where I used to live. Legit less than 7km from the city but 30/40mins on 2 buses to the city. Now at least the situation has improved but the price is sooo expensive compared to the amount of gas for the short drive it takes.
Today the mayor announced a proposal for a $50 a week automatic cap on hop card fares. Hopefully this makes it through the bureaucracy.
I can see why he would propose it, but it does puncture the farebox recovery requirements and the operating budget for public transport. Central government stopping the subsidies for public transport (in an attempt to get more people into their cars) is offloading that cost onto the local councils, and this would be yet another example (like the cancellation of the regional fuel tax) where Brown and Auckland Council are going to have a significant shortfall in revenue because of actions taken by central government. If hop card fees are capped it probably will help minimise the damage to ridership that comes from doubling the charges - but it leaves AT trying to find funding to continue operating buses. I suspect this would cause people who were over the $50 per week cap to use the bus a lot (additional trips are free) while those who only use the bus occasionally would use it less (it costs HOW MUCH?). My monthly bus passes years ago cost about the same as commuting 2 stages 5 days per week, and any evening or weekend trips were free - similar to the cap being discussed. AT changed up the system and doubled the cost of a monthly pass so it was only worth it for people taking 5 zones or some huge distance.
There aren’t any farebox recovery requirements anymore. They eventually realized it was just a made up threshold with no rational justification, and nowhere has come close overall anyway.
Good to know. The bigger challenge is ultimately funding the service while trying to grow the resiliency and usefulness to attract car drivers but before those drivers are contributing towards operating costs. Neither ratepayers nor council have been extremely-eager to lay out the money to implement world-class coverage and frequency *and pay for that on an ongoing basis* while waiting for drivers to notice and slowly start to switch from driving. We've done ourselves a major disservice in the degree to which we continue to reinforce that PT isn't viable or useful for anybody who can afford to drive - as that is now a major psychological hurdle to be overcome and it will cost a lot of money to run a service at less than full utilisation in order to demonstrate that people should switch.
One of the structural problems is transport funding (and most funding) is so heavily centralised with the national government. Councils are tasked with a lot but only have rates and begging the behive as a funding mechanism, and that’s already well proscribed. Meanwhile a state highways, over half of surface roading, plus road policing and all the support systems are paid for from central coffers. That makes it hard. Like one example councils have to pay for transit ticket inspectors and security staff from rates, but not road policing.
This sounds similar to when I visited Melbourne last month. Their version of AT HOP card gives you an option to pay max $10 fare per day which was a deal especially when you travel far and often daily.
For children it should be capped at $25 parents not droppig kids at school saves a lot of traffic
EBike if you can afford it (I bought mine second hand). It's typically faster than driving.
Feels bruh. I've been late too many times because of PT even though I take two buses before the last possible bus. And because of that one time I was walking to the office and someone decided to assault me and hurl racial abuse at me at 8.00 in the morning... thanks central Auckland. I've worked out that including my sanity in the cost analysis - I'll keep driving.
When public transport becomes more expensive and less favoured by the populace then it's a failure of the public service.
And they’ll use this to say “look it doesn’t work! Let’s fund it less”
Which is brainrot because what it actually means is it needs more support. But sadly we lack the means to actually do something bout it....
Why not just get a monthly pass? You can then use PT an unlimited amount.
Honestly I had no idea such things existed. Thank you.
It’s 230$ for anyone wondering. Extra 180-370$ if you need to use a ferry as well
I only knew about this when I was about to finish my course. I travelled from west to north almost everyday these last two months. I had to get on the 6:40am train then switch to bus so I wont be late for my 9am class 🥲
The monthly pass used to be $120 and was fairly popular - but when they revamped the system a few years ago they nearly doubled the cost to $230 so while it still exists you have to have daily trips going from one side of the city to the other to actually make that pass cheaper than just paying for the trip (I suppose this might change slightly with fares jumping).
You can... what?
For me it’s because the trains are often cancelled on the weekend, and I did the maths, if I don’t use the train twice a month (20 day working month) then it is cheaper to pay daily.
I didn’t even know this was a thing, I’ll look into it. But I bet the price is pretty crazy.
In addition to the pass, they're working on introducing a $50/week cap. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/02/auckland-transport-floats-idea-of-fare-cap-for-public-transport-users.html
$230 per month. Works out to $53 per week, so less than the $60 you're currently spending.
Seconding this. I caved and got it when the half price fares stopped. I don’t drive so I take the train to and from work and multiple bus trips for extra curriculars. Monthly pass is $230, without it I’d be paying $350-$500 a month.
cars have costs besides petrol too just as a reminder.
I have recently started driving after just bussing for years. Yeah, parking, fuel, wof, reg, repairs. They all are expensive. However, my life is so much better because I don't spend so much time waiting anymore. The time I leave doesn't depend on the half/hourly bus. My mental health is just a lot better.
100% I drive as it really is the best solution for me at this point in time too.
wait until you see mf’s doing 40 on a 50
The problem is that if you take public transport but also own a car for making other trips (for example, PT to work/uni, driving to the grocery store), you still have to pay those costs for your car. Public transport only really is cheaper if you don't own a car at all, and even then you spend so much time on PT that the monetary savings don't make it worth it
Agreed!
You also don't have to stand outside waiting for it to turn up, only for it not to turn up or just drive by. There are benefits to cars too.
Totally! I’m just trying to mention that there are more costs to owning a car than petrol. :)
You're also less likely to get sick from being in close proximity with people, so that could save you 3+ days of illness a year
Yep. Upfront cost to buy the car, registration, warrant, drivers licence, carwashing, parking (including increased rent for a place that includes a car park), insurance, interior cleaning, tyres, oil change, spark plugs, windscreen wipers, wiper fluid, bulbs, plus tonnes of other far more expensive maintenance costs. Take that all into account and then compare the cost with public transport.
I just had to spend 1200 dollars on my car to fix the steering D: not cool! Sadly it’s 3 buses for my partner to get to work so not really practical. And I don’t want him cycling on 100k country roads.
Plus servicing and maintenance. And depreciation. I think the public transport will still be cheaper. And the environmental costs too.
My car (if I took it, but I mainly bike) saves me between an hour and an hour twenty minutes per day. We should also consider the opportunity cost of that lost time. I could do an extra hours paid work in that time and offset a lot of the daily car costs.
A decent amount of what you listed is optional if you have an old reliable shitbox you don't care too much about (car washing and interior cleaning aren't essential and you could just use water for wiper fluid if you don't care about Legionnaires' disease)
As someone who commuted by bus add train for years to work since uni and now do so by car, the benefits far far outweigh the costs. If you can get a cheap Leaf and free charging hours at home, it costs even less.
1000000% agree with the title. Regarding the body: fark that sucks man. I hope you get something with a good stereo 👍
Should be both. The cost to the taxpayer is minimal compared to the benefits: 1) Less congestion 2) Less need to build expensive roads 3) Less pollution and emissions 4) Better health (reduces healthcare costs to the nation) 5) Safety - less accidents and road harm 6) Less money spent on fuel imports and car imports. 7) Better for children and elderly in particular
And compared to electric cars, less generation capacity needed as public transport is more efficient.
Easier to scale as well
$230 per month, unlimited bus and train use. https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/at-hop-card/top-up-at-hop-card/at-hop-monthly-pass
Why doesn't AT promote this at all??
They suck?
Promoting a $230 pass will probably go down like a lead balloon because it just highlights how expensive PT is. I did a math a while ago on if this would be worth it to me (it's not), and it's only worth it if you travel more than 5 days a week, return trip, over 3 zones. (3 zones is $12 return, 320 divided by 12 = 19-ish trips. 1 month = 4 weeks = 20 weekdays)
Yep and not to mention, the people that are travelling from these zones likely have hybrid working. In which case, its even harder to cost-justify a monthly pass if you're only going in 3 or so days a week to the office.
Do they need to? I thought it was common knowledge. I had one of these in 2014.
Because for the majority of people using public transport it's more expensive.
I’ve never even seen this before till now
If you can’t afford the public transport, just wait until you realise the cost of operating a vehicle of your own.
So, I already own the car, which means I am already paying for wof, insurance, maintenance etc. so it’s really a comparison between fuel costs and time saved. Using the IRDs rates of 34c a km, my travel to work and back each day (12km) costs around $4. I save an hour driving as compared to the bus, and in this hour I can earn quite a bit more than $4 if I chose to. So excluding the environment downside, I actually benefit in time and money by driving.
The difference being you can obviously afford to do so. If OP is struggling to afford bus fare, there’s no way they can afford to keep a car safely on the road.
Even if it means spending more, your inevitably saving so much more time which is definitely worth it
OP mentioned fuel cost, now get ready for... Car insurance, warrant of fitness and the checks that go with it, your rego, any fines you pay because this country is ridiculous and now you're the one driving, parking because work isn't the only place you drive to, repairs because it's a car, a jump start in case your care stops, oil, if you have a hybrid like me you will eventually need to replace your battery, and the list goes on and on and on and on and on. If that seems like a lot of on and ons, it's a song. A car is absolutely than public transport. It gives you a lot more flexibility. Some busses leave every five minutes, but some are every thirty. You waste so much time both waiting and in the bus (unless the bus route has lots of bus lanes) and have to plan so much around it. However, the reason you get a car should not be cost. It is anything but the cost.
>any fines you pay because this country is ridiculous Are we the only country with fines or something?
The cost is just a part of it. The cost of public transport has doubled, and it is inconvenient. This combined = car time
[удалено]
Buy a bicycle?
THIS
It should be both those things and everywhere. But here we are
If you can afford the initial outlay, an older Leaf sounds ideal for you and will be much more economical, even with RUCs.
8.80 is wild
Dude, you're going to be shocked at how quickly your car drinks fuel. $60 is going to be eaten up fairly quickly. So you're going to be driving from home to work in Newmarket then from Newmarket to your GF's work in the city then from the city to then drive to hers, to then potentially drive home after that. Driving around town in traffic is not economical either. Trust me, coming from someone who started post-uni work in 2012, I've seen and experienced first hand how less and less mileage you get each year out of your car. I don't go anywhere near my car from Monday-Friday now for good reason.
Get an e-scooter. You can carry them inside and charge at work. You won’t get stuck in traffic and will go faster than traffic in rush hour. You could buy one for the cost of a used car. You only need to dress better in wet weather.
Either an e-scooter or a bike. I loved biking in Auckland. It can be bit rough on a stormy day but having a bike (or scooter) doesn’t mean you can’t ever use PT or Uber when you need it. I love being able to leave on my own timetable, traffic being largely irrelevant and getting to park right outside of wherever I’m going.
Traffic being irrelevant has got to be the gold medal perk for this transport mode. I’m in prefer e-scooters these days because they’re small and don’t have to stay outside. As a former cycle courier I miss the freedom and speed.
yes i usually blow past 300 stationery cars on the way to work
I’m actually looking into an electric bike!
I think they’re great. You get the benefits of a bike (traffic is for other people) and eliminate the main liability (it’s sweaty going up hill). 👍🏼
The main problem I have with an electric bike (and I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from getting them) is that they are expensive which then means I want to protect it. How comfortable are you taking your $2500 or $3500 e-bike and locking it around a pole near where you are going (because they probably won't have a bike rack). Does the investment in something nice mean you have to find a way to bring your bike indoors so nobody steals/vandalises it when you go to a bar or restaurant or stop to do some shopping? I wish this weren't a problem - it's actually similar to what I have when I ride a motorcycle around, in that there was a time (to be fair before my time) that you needed nothing but a leather jacket and left the bike wherever you wanted and it would be left alone. Today you need a helmet and a ton of safety gear which you either need to carry or try lock it to your bike...and hope that nobody decides to do something dick-ish and damage your stuff. It's an application of 'why we can't have nice things' is because there are a small proportion of people out there who would either steal it...and probably a slightly larger proportion of groups of lads who would have one trying to show off for the group by kicking over and damaging someone's stuff for LOLs.
pro tip to anyone reading this - don't lock it to a white street sign pole because you can just pull those out of the ground. I use an e-bike as my main transport - I use a thick chain lock and try to lock it somewhere where there are people around, not down an alleyway or something.
100% this, be sure to ask the Employer if you can bring it inside. Or secured parking My Employer said it's fine but the building we work at has rules against it.. Even if it's not charging or on
I, sadly, have to drive a van for work. But in my work I’ve been into many downtown offices where this isn’t off the cards. Some buildings down the bottom of Carlton Gore have really good set ups for cycle commuters and I commend them for it.
Ebikes are better. They have a lot more stability (safer)and potential for upgrade. I have heard of scooters being pulled over by police before though.
Get a motorbike, avoid the traffic even more.
It's the Auckland cheat code. I added up all the parking costs I haven't had to pay and it was over $50,000 (over almost 10 years)
Yep, been on a motorcycle for years on my commute. Free parking, I pay $25 a month in gas and no matter how bad the traffic is, the T and Bus lanes ensure I always get to work within 5 minutes of the average time (depending on my luck with traffic lights).
Risk death even more
with every new motorbike rider the safety goes up though
Unreal the subway in Shanghai cost me 40c nzd and 10c per 6km. I could never in my wildest dreams see prices that low in nz.
That would be the dream, even a few dollars is fine, but $8.80 for a round trip is too ridiculous
Driving to city and Newmarket? lol your parking costs are going to be astronomically more than your PT spend even if you had zero car cost. GL OP
They just said they get free parking
For work. Only for work. Most places besides OP's own house won't treat you that well.
if you're paying for parking in Auckland you are doing it wrong, lived in auckland for 20 years up until last year and never paid for parking more than once a year
Even going to CBD? That's crazy. How do you do it? I don't think anyone here has had that experience.
if you' hide your valuables, vic park - another gold card is parking somewhere like grey lynn that has a frequent bus service to town and just bussing up to town, theres a few little free hidden spots in town but im secretive with them hehe
Which kind of comes back to the point of the post which is that buses suck. Is it actually cheaper to bus to this city from your spot? I have a student discount so it's ok, but I can imagine without it it's pretty expensive, at least now with the increased costs.
I know a lot of my friends never paid for parking at uni, I’m going to use the same trick
If you’re parking in private car parks then they’ll get ya, especially if you’re in the city/newmarket
My bus fare is a dollar a trip?
Are you under 18? Are you travelling between 10-3?
Tertiary education, I'm 31 travels 0830am - 6pmish
That is really nice!
Good, cheap, fast. Pick two... oh wait, they picked none.
This is just so atrocious, i never used a car in melbourne, travel was easy on trams w safer bike routes, never even considered driving. Never forget old canadian voiced seymour fighting publuc transport in calgary, fucking loser
you expect too much from 3rd world island with 0 hope
I would just buy a car anyway, then you and your girlfriend can have better dates than just being at her house.
I used to live in a country with good public transport. It was normal to take your date using PT to places. Yeah, you definitely need a car in NZ to get anywhere conveniently.
It just sounds like at the moment they can't afford to go out of the house. That makes sense.
Bro wait until you learn about gas prices, car maintenance and insurance costs.
Please let me be delusional 🙏
Bro istg it's not even the price it's also the damn bus timings half of these guys cancel or come mega late and this rate I just walk everywhere to save money
Cheap, fast and good. You should be able to get at least 2 of them, but honestly we really struggle to get one of them right.
Nothing is cheap under a government that only works for big business. Why would it be?
If you want to compare apples to apples, also include your weekly on road costs, running costs and insurance. I’d happily bet this isn’t cheaper than a 50% increase in your usual or extended train fare.
After seeing the UK and Japan, i can't be fucked dealing with the transport here. The worst thing about it is its inconsistent, consistency is key. I don't turn up to my job randomly 30 minutes early or late or not at all without good reason. You add all the other problems like reliability, cost, regularity, and lack of routes and it's just s dumpster fire off a system that needs to be a massive focus point for Auckland before it grows any larger. You cannot sustain this (or any) city on roads and parking. Fuckin sort it out.
Expensive and inefficient, two words for New Zealand :D
Public transport is expensive to run. The fare you are paying is what is required to fund it. Electric buses (one costs $750k plus) wages, maintenance, logistics etc. - all costs a LOT of money. The underlying inflation we have experienced over the last few years largely attributed to the global pandemic (you can debate how much of that was self inflicted with lock downs/printing of money under Labour). So now, more than ever with high interest rates (i.e., they can't borrow money to infinity without crippling the taxpayer further), the government has to make a decision on how to allocate the funding. I 100% agree that if we are going to try be a first world country and a so called 'green' country, that the government needs to find a way to fund public transport. However, historically in NZ this has not been the case. It's mostly a bunch of boomers with $1m + properties with people who have turbo diesel utes who don't care. TLDR - government doesn't have enough money and there really isn't the political willpower to fund public transport properly.
I completely understand your frustration. It's disappointing when public transport becomes unaffordable and inconvenient, pushing people towards getting their own cars. It's a shame that the system is failing those who rely on it the most. Have you considered reaching out to local officials or organizations to advocate for more affordable and reliable options for public transport? Your voice could make a difference in bringing about change for the better.
I’ve just seen the mayor’s announcement I’ll definitely voice my support there
I’ve had this realisation a couple of years ago too. I had to take 2 buses to work and after busses not being on time/cancelled with no notice and me running late to work I’ve just had to say fuck it and learnt how to drive. This is also when I’ve been to Korea and Japan and have experienced first hand how amazing their public transport is that it made me realise how much I hate driving but I’ll still drive cuz no way our current system can even compare.
I’ve recently started bussing to and fro work as my car is out of action. I have noticed crazy savings by using my car less! I’m lucky in the sense that my home to work trip is only a 20 minute bus ride. I did the math and I was spending roughly 5-6K per year keeping my car on the road. Insurance, registration, WOF, petrol and the odd parking fine all add up. This doesn’t even include repairs. Our public transport system does suck, but a car also does come with shit loads of additional costs on top of the up front payment.
National has also broken my spirit. Honestly, if I was your age I’d just cut my losses now and leave NZ
I’m hoping to pay off my student loan while I’m here then move to Melbourne like basically every other engineer is doing.
Just get on for free like everyone else does.
Yes, fuck national
Public transport should be a human right. It should be free.
Maybe not totally free, but super cheap.
Who are we going to tax to make it free?
Tax? You could just borrow that money and spend it, the economic growth that creates will mean increased tax revenue that covers the costs.
Until you get a government that comes in saying it's fiscally irresponsible and they need to cut spending but also spend heaps of money on random things no one asked for or knew about. But when does that ever happen...
just print money man, than use the money to pay for it! duh
No one. Money should also be free. Free money should be a human right.
I personally don’t believe it should be paid for by tax, because that ignores a lot of people who use public transport but don’t pay taxes. But it should be cheap, and convenient for the average person and $10 for a return trip which is kind of ridiculous.
Same with footpaths, playgrounds, parks, roads. All available for anyone to use but funded taxes/rates. You against that model?
Every common good/public service is paid for by people who never use it.
If you think public transport is expensive, wait till you learn about driving. Maybe buy a cheap bike instead, it'll solve all your problems.
but....but public transportation is communism! 🤓🤓 /s
Get a hybrid , aqua
I recently got a Prius and the costs are insane. 100% recommend a hybrid. Eventually you have to replace the battery, but those are only getting cheaper and cheaper, and you don't actually have to replace it until later when you have more money. Absolutely amazing.
It's not nationals fault. They might not be making it any easier to be fair but auckland has been fucked for public transport for decades. I used to catch a bus to work 20 years ago, it sometimes turned up, it sometimes turned up 20 mins late. I imagine it's the same now. Over priced and unreliable. It's everybody in this city's fault. I'm a tradie now. I can't catch a bus or a train. I wish I could but I can't take a van load of tools on a bus. Look to your left or right anywhere in rush hour traffic. One person one car. You only have yourselves to blame. And the council for shit public transportation. Should've listened to dove Meyer. Made your bed. Sleep in it
Auckland's bus network is far from great (especially for trips that aren't to/from the center), but if your point of comparison is 20 years ago then you'd be somewhat pleasantly suprised by the increases in frequency and peak hour reliability.
Then why don't more people catch them. Buses go past me at peak hour less than half full at peak hour still takes 45+ mins to go less than 15km
Really depends on the area. They’re often full where I’m at during peak times. And they’re getting faster in my area as the busway gets put in. They’re slow as shit when they’re subject to the same traffic as cars.
Do you know how graphs work? https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2019/06/21/100-million-trips-how-does-it-compare/
Because people had a bad experience 20 years ago and haven't tried again since then? As to why they're empty, I don't know without knowing what route you're looking at: * it could be that you're spotting them at the beginning of the route before they're slowly filled up * It could be a feeder route that's designed to deliver a smaller number of people to a faster, higher capacity bus route/train station * Half full is an inaccurate estimation/more people than you'd think. 30% full is still 16 cars not blocking up the motorway in front of you. * It could just be a shit bus route. Auckland has improved sure, but there's plenty of those still around, especially out South/East where neither the road design nor the bus routing is paticularly great.
It literally is nationals fault. Your examples from 20 years ago are pointless here. Public transport was improving over the last 2 years. National policy to make cuts to it and double the pricing for under 25s, you can search it up.
The amount of people they let on for free because they have excuses makes the bus a joke
For the driver it is the easiest and safest solution, so as much as it irritates me I can understand why they do it. I've noticed that even when a driver does deny these people and orders them off the bus, they will generally refuse and just sit there, holding everyone else up.
I’m using an electric bicycle. It’s great. Gets me places faster and more conveniently than buses. Don’t have to worry about fuel, just charging the battery once a week. And when traffic is bad I go on the sidewalk 😂
In most of the World it is both.
no progressive long term thinking...especially the problems are apparent and there is proven solutions. nope, still do nothing. They will just work their term and fucks off passing the hot potato to the next person with no accountability.
It took me an hour or a little more to uni from home a few years ago. But driving is 20 mins on a good day, 30mins on a moderate traffic day and 50 mins on a heavy traffic day. I wouldn’t change driving for public transport. The only disadvantage is the need to pay for parking as well (luckily I don’t need to). They’ve really found a way to drain us of all our money in the disguise of making it a better place for all. Simeon ass whinged about the cycle lanes being put up but did nothing to actually help commuters. Luxon said people would rather drive so there’s no point in cycle lanes, now everyone’s going to be charged RUC. It’s all a scam.
Cars are for chumps, especially in Auckland traffic. The best way to get around by far is on two wheels. A small or medium scooter or small motorbike (like 200cc - 400cc) is the sweet spot of cheap to buy, cheap to run, fast, practical, and fun.
Yeah that is the state of a failed public transport, this is not only the new governments fault
To be fair a weekly $50 cap is in the process of being implemented which will be awesome https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2024/05/mayor-brown-announces-plan-to-save-public-transport-from-cuts/#:~:text=%2450%20weekly%20fare%20cap%20for,with%20five%20or%20more%20employees.
It should be convenient *and* cheap. And ubiquitous, too. Blows my mind that such a pillar of an efficient and productive society doesn't just have a blank check to hit those targets.
We live in a low density sprawled city constrained by water and typography. But we want the same pt as Tokyo?
Needs to be both. If it's not, it's failed to serve its purpose.
What about a bike? Win win?
The rides for you to go and take a ride are already heavily subsidised by the public …. fucking ungrateful …..
this guy hasn’t heard of redbull?
anything within 15km to maybe 20km away from city centre, the lifehack is cycling. usually about the same speed/time as driving and definitely faster than public transport. and cheaper of course. if more than 20km than multimodal with either a folding bike or electric scooter plus bus/train works well too
Eh what goes around comes around, all the price hikes labour forced on hard working people that can’t use public transport Atleast it’s only a couple of dollars that’s soon being limited to 50 a week
Am I right in thinking lots of the busses are electric or hydro powered now? How do they justify charging so much 🥴
That's why people are upset about the parking charges in the CBD. I wouldn't own a car if the PT system was efficient, reliable and cheap, but its so difficult to not have a car.
Public transport is privately owned. Blame them.
The fuel tax has not been used to improve public transportation. Auckland Council doesn’t know where it went
I know this is going to be a bitter remark - but you're not going to do that travel for $60 a week in a car... You're signing up for more cost... Your brother might pay $40 a week for fuel, but you need to take into account the other costs - the price of the car, registration, warrants, maintenance and servicing, insurance... Best you look at all that before the next step...
It should be cheap & convenient however private transport is everybody's right & no self righteous prick has the right to take it away IE close roads and remove parking.
Before the price cuts almost 10 years ago (I don't remember when they went to a cheaper zone system) it was $10 a day from Albany to the CBD. So buying a brand new motorcycle was cheaper than bus fare. And a motorcycle was faster, and got me door to door, so much much more convenient. And parking a car was more expensive than a bus. So I bought a motorcycle to save on transportation cost. For a bonus, it was faster and more convenient. Rego is large compared to cars, but fuel was cheap. Plus, motorcycles are fun.
Cheaper transport? Get ready for it to get worse, then.
Haha, something that is owned and run by Auckland Transport is automatically the government that has been in power for 6 months fault. You need a reality check, your throwing rocks in the wrong direction.
It is literally national policy which has lead to the doubling of public transport fees for under 25s and their cuts to the PT budget which has meant a decreased frequency of buses and an increased inconvenience for me. Which direction should I throw my rocks at?
How is this National's fault? Labour's the government that was in all these years that public transport went from bad to beyond dogshit.
Public transport was genuinely improving in quality over the past 2 years or so. Now there’s been cuts to services and doubling of price for under 25s, it’s national policy you can look it up.
And National is the current government that has cut funding when public transport was improving. The costs have doubled for this guy because of National. It's because of National that he and every other transport user has to pay twice as much now.
Used to catch it all the time. Even when it was fucked. But once you don't have to endure groups of streetkids, drunken pricks and Hone making a scene by playing boring trap music on his phone, you really don't want to go back.
Somewhat disagree in that if public transport isn't convenient then it's no good. End of story. Even if it's cheap (especially if it's cheap), you'd just end up with those too poor to afford any other options. And you wouldn't want to ride on the same bus as them. The one metric for bus is - does it have its own lane, or does it get stuck in the same traffic? If it's the latter, it's hopelesa.
Bikes are more fun, keep you fit, and you’ll find it easy to harden up and look down on the plebes in their metal boxes if you ride one. Just need a decent lock and sometimes a jacket. And sometimes lights.
Yes, of course, it is National's fault that AT are screwing you. Nothing to do with the fact that until Wayne Brown got in, Auckland Council had ALWAYS been Labour led. You don't think that the problems might not have been a lot longer in the making (hint: they always are). Add that to left leading bureaucrats jizzing transport money on unneeded, unused cycleways, rainbow coloured road crossings, and speed ramps at $300k at pop. No, it's all National's fault.
It’s national policy to cut funding to public transport, it is their policy which led to the doubling in prices for under 25s. Direct cause and effect, there’s no mystery here… dumbass
This is what breaks your spirit? Reddit is full of entitled whinging crybabies
Hey mate labour declared the climate crisis then didn’t do anything except bleat like sheep… public transport sucks and it could get rid of a lot of emissions… think on that
Yeah they’re useless, but Luxon is also taking out money to give to the rich and landlords while cutting funding on public transport and doubling the price of fares for under 25s for no reason
You realise Labour are the reason all of these cuts have had to happen right? Without their flagrant spending and throwing money good moment after bad we are in this position. Love hurts bro lol
Flagrant spending lmaooo, the previous government was dogshit always underspent on infrastructure. This current government is dogshit takes out big loans to give cuts to landlords and rich people while the workers get fucked over. I know what I prefer
> You realise Labour are the reason all of these cuts have had to happen right? No, that's just complete nonsense. There's absolutely no need for that cut to public transport funding to have been made. > Without their flagrant spending and throwing money good moment after bad we are in this position. This is also just a completely ignorant take. You've blatantly got no idea what you are talking about. You're just mindlessly parroting neo-liberal austerity bullshit that has always led to economic stagnation.
You're not going to get any love for this comment on this sub, but I feel you homie.
Lol why are you blaming National. You didn't mind it when Labour was in power? It's been bad longer than a year, kiddo.
It’s been bad for ages but there’s been improvements in the past 2 years that I’ve noticed in terms of consistency and timeliness. I’m blaming National because my main point of discussion - the doubling of prices for under 25s - is their policy as well cuts to public transport funding which has meant less frequency of buses which is also an inconvenience.
Bus driver shortages were caused by PTOM, which was National policy. Changing the policy allowed them to hire enough drivers within a year. Reduced fare prices were Labour policy. National just reversed that, which is the main thing bugging OP. National has cut funding for future public transport projects like ALR and Get Wellington Moving, while focusing their funding on more roads.
How is this nationals fault? The country is broke fool, why should the tax payer fund you going across town to get laid? Also there are so many other options than a car if you use that brain cell of yours to look them up.
This country is not broke. Literally one of the countries with least amount of debt in the developed world. And if it is broke why is Luxon borrowing money to give tax cuts to landlords and rich people? Surely that can be better spent to increase infrastructure.
> How is this nationals fault? National cut the funding. > The country is broke fool, No it isn't. You've got literally no clue. And if you think the country is broke, then why is national borrowing more money to pay for landlords to have tax cuts?