Auckland Transport media release

12 December 2014

75 million on board with public transport

More Aucklanders than ever before are getting on board with public transport.

Total annual patronage has reached 75 million for the first time, a rise of 8% compared to the 12 months to November 2013. There has been an increase of 5.7 million passengers trips since December 2013, an extra 15,620 trips each day on average.

The growth is a result of various public transport improvements over recent months including new electric trains, improved frequency of services on rail and bus, better rail and bus service on-time performance and the roll-out of AT HOP integrated ticketing.

In response to new electric trains and rail improvements, the numbers using the Manukau Line are up 50% on November last year.

The total number of rail trips has now reached 12.3 million a year; an increase of 17.5% on this time last year. When Britomart opened in 2003 patronage was at just 2.5 million a year.

Auckland Transport chairman, Dr Lester Levy, says “This is a fantastic result across buses, rail and ferries. Rail will only continue to grow with the completion of the electric train roll-out next year.”

Bus patronage has also grown strongly reaching 57.6 million, including 2.6 million for the Northern Express, meaning an annual rise of 14%.

Ferry patronage for the year is up slightly to 5.1 million.

Mayor Len Brown says: “Aucklanders are getting out of their cars and on to public transport as soon as we can roll it out. Seventy-five million passenger trips is an impressive milestone, but this is just the start. After decades of under-investment, we need to fund and build the fully-integrated transport system that Aucklanders clearly want and one that will finally get this region moving.”

Further improvements on the way include the completion of the roll-out of electric trains, the redesign of the bus network to provide a network of high frequency services in a hub-and-spoke configuration, integrated fares, continuing focus on on-time performance and new service orientated and performance focused contractual arrangements with service providers through the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM).

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