blogging it real

Get a bit of a theme going here on public transport. It is one of my non-expressed interests as well.

In today's edition of the blue rinse herald

Dearer diesel, higher wages push up bus fares

27.10.05
By Nicola Boyes
Bus users in Auckland have been given three days' notice of a 10 per cent fare rise which will result in some passengers paying up to $1.50 more per trip.

The 10 per cent average increase approved by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority will start on Sunday as bus companies update their fares

The bus fare increase follows an annual review of service costs and is attributed to higher diesel prices and wages. Fares last went up in August last year when they rose by 8 per cent.

Three days notice?! Way to treat your customers like a pile of shit. You have an annual review and then woooshka!!! there it is, straight out of peoples pockets.

The increased fares could put more pressure on the industry, which has experienced falling patronage.

Stagecoach New Zealand marketing manager Russell Turnbull admitted the increases were likely to result in more passengers choosing to leave public transport.

"We've been at the sharp end of rail improvements and a drop-off in foreign students. We've suffered more than most," Mr Turnbull said. After a decade of growth, passenger numbers are falling. In the 12 months to June, they dropped about 5.5 per cent.

She [ARTA's General Manager Passenger Services Heather Haselgrove] said bus fares had increased without effect on patronage 15 months ago and she expected the latest rises to have little impact. She said a review of ferry and rail fares was also imminent.

"It's $80 to fill up your tank of petrol now. People are experiencing these costs themselves and they can do the sums.

"Public transport continues to be good value when compared to the cost of petrol and parking and it is even better value if it means a family does not need to buy a second car."

Bullshit. Firstly for most people the cost of petrol will be around 75% of a bus fare to the same place and back. Secondly I would guess that 95% of people who drive each day DO NOT pay for parking.

I present to you exhibit A

But one bus user last night calculated that the new fares widened the gap between the cost of taking public transport and taking his car into work.

"At the moment it's already proving uneconomical to take public transport," he said in a posting on the Rideline web forum about his journey from Meadowbank to East Tamaki.

Because his new monthly bus fare will be increasing from $75 to $99 and as he will have to pay $104 instead of $88 for a weekly ticket, it now made more sense to take the car, the commuter wrote.

I doubt the numbers taking public transport will drop a heck of a lot, but right at a time when they could be expected to really push for more customers (petrol prices, high employment, strong economy, and whatever the fuck) they deal themselves a blow in the ass.

Take a look at who uses public transport. Check out a bus stop or even look inside one as it drives by. The majority of users do not own cars its safe to guess. They are high school students, university students, foreign fee paying students, the elderly, the poor(ish). They have no fucking choice about how to get from A-B-G-I-V-E-M-E-Y-O-U-R-M-O-N-E-Y

Good luck bus companies. Soon you'll have empty buses driving in circles, stopping once in a while to tell the person at the bus stop that they'll need to come back with a cheque book or credit card to ride one stage. Then local government can simply pay the drivers to waste petrol by driving in these circles all day till knockoff time. Plus, the trains are going to kick yo ass.