The Campaign For Better Transport

Today’s New Zealand Herald has an interesting op-ed by Fergus Gammie on integrated ticketing:

This system, designed and developed by the French Thales Group, is the preferred choice of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) for Auckland.

The path to be followed is similar to that in Denmark, which implemented the system in Copenhagen during 1995, and five years later expanded the project to cover the country.

Buses will have contactless card validators at entry and exit.

Stations will be equipped with similar validators and automatic gates, and have agent-operated point-of-sale terminals, self-service ticket vending and reloading machines.

The New Zealand Herald reports the NZTA’s announcement yesterday of funding approval for the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) to conclude negotiations with a preferred tenderer for a seamless integrated ticket for passengers to ride on buses, trains and ferries under simpler fare structures.

The NZTA will take responsibility for the system, which could then be rolled out nationally. NZTA are interested in taking over integrated ticketing because a nationally integrated system could also be applied to toll roads, parking meters and car parking buildings, vastly simplifying the systems used for charging motorists as well.

Computerworld reports Infratil’s smart-card integrated ticketing subsidiary, Snapper, is in a last gasp attempt to win the contract for Auckland’s integrated ticketing system:

Snapper chief executive Miki Szikszai says Snapper can work with the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) to have integrated ticketing on 90 percent of Auckland’s buses, trains and ferries by the time the Rugby World Cup kicks off.

ARTA media release

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), in conjunction with the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), today announced the next step in the delivery of an integrated ticketing system for Auckland’s train, bus and ferry users with the selection of a preferred tender.

ARTA’s Chairman, Rabin Rabindran says, “This is a critical next step in the delivery of an integrated ticket for use on Auckland’s public transport system opening the door to greater ease of public transport use by our customers. Having a smartcard in your pocket will be like having the keys to Auckland’s public transport system.

“In conjunction with NZTA we will be holding detailed negotiations with our preferred tenderer over the next few months and, subject to final confirmation of funding by NZTA, will lead to implementation of the system.

“ARTA’s tender process allows us to incorporate NZTA’s preferred approach including a centralised system and potential contestability of options available for parts of the system”.

Mr Rabindran said, “A consortium made up of French electronics company, Thales, in partnership with the Bank of New Zealand and Transfield services, has been selected by ARTA as the preferred tenderer to deliver New Zealand’s first fully integrated ticketing system for Auckland.

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There’s an interesting article in yesterday’s Herald about the progress of sorting out the mess Steven Joyce left Auckland’s public transport in when he cancelled the Regional Fuel Tax a couple of months back. There’s some good news, some frustrating news and some potentially good news.

On the positive side, “Money has been assured for new Auckland railway stations.” These include Newmarket, New Lynn, Manukau, Onehunga, Grafton and Avondale – some of which are already under construction (thereby making the need to sort out funding for their completion rather urgent.) The money looks like it will come from a variety of places, including higher ARC rates, an increased subsidy from NZTA and – here’s the killer – cutting back on the costs of Auckland’s integrated ticketing project.

I really don’t know why the government is so against integrated ticketing for Auckland’s public transport. Maybe they realise that simplifying the ticketing in Auckland, and creating something as up-to-date as the smart-card systems we see in London (Oyster Card) and Hong Kong (Octopus Card) will lead to a surge in patronage on Auckland’s public transport system, thereby undermining their view of public transport as something only for the poor and carless. Or maybe they’re being pressurised by Infratil (the owners of most of Auckland’s bus service providers) into delaying a project that Infratil doesn’t like. Either way, it’s pretty depressing to hear that funding has been cut to Auckland’s public transport to the extent that the ARC has had: “to try to scale back the integrated ticketing project, which previously carried a capital cost of about $80 million, including a 60 per cent Government subsidy. Mr Lee said the council would try to find ways of halving that cost.”

These most recent developments mean that the best Auckland can really hope for is to get our version of Wellington’s Snapper Card. Now this is a great outcome for Infratil – as they own Snapper Card – but is no guarantee that this smart-card system will be equally available for all public transport operators in the Auckland Region. Therefore, there seems to be no guarantee that the ticketing system will, in fact, be integrated. When this lack of money for integrated ticketing is coupled with the Ministry of Transport’s decision to review the Public Transport Management Act (the very piece of legislation that gives ARTA the power to impose integrated ticketing), it’s hard not to be suspicious that this critical step in the future of Auckland’s public transport is going to be delayed at best, or possibly even cancelled.

There is a light on the horizon about Auckland’s electric trains though – with Steven Joyce saying “he would report to the cabinet next month on options for buying an electric fleet and that, despite Mr Lee’s nervousness, “we remain committed to electrification”. I can understand Mike Lee (head of the ARC) being nervous though, and I’ll believe that we’re getting electric trains when I see the contract signed.

March 2009 was a record breaking month for public transport usage in Auckland. The ARTA monthly business report confirms that there were 6,115,155 bus, ferry and rail boardings in March across Auckland’s network. This is up 19.7% on last March. It also means that the 12 month rolling total for Auckland at the end of March was 58,325,170 boardings – a 10.6% increase upon the 12 month rolling total for the previous year. The image below shows the huge leap that March 2009 represents, and how it compares with the last few years (the highest month of all):

Regarding railway patronage, the figures are even better in some respects: 802,623 boardings for the month, a 26.7% increase upon March 2008.  The image below shows how this compares with past months, and also how it compares with March from the last few years:

This is all excellent news – although the figures are slightly inflated because Easter fell in April this year but March last year. It is clear that Aucklanders are responding to improvements to our public transport system and also that the increases in public transport usage that we saw last winter due to high oil prices were not just a once-off, but that people who perhaps tried public transport for the first time then liked it, and are sticking with it. Later this year we will see a few more milestones, as the Onehunga Branch re-opens and the Newmarket Station is completed. Hopefully we will also have some sort of integrated ticketing system going, and a few more trains available to handle the increased demand.

March and August are generally the months with highest public transport usage (no school holidays, uni holdiays or uni exams). It will be interesting to see if August 2009 can top March2009.

If one thing annoys me more than anything else in all the transport announcements we’ve seen over the past week or two – removal of the regional petrol tax, creation of a national petrol tax, news the government will pay for Auckland’s new electric trains, unsurprising news that the government is investing billions in state highways at the cost of everything else – it has been what has happened to Auckland’s integrated ticketing project. Regional petrol tax dollars were critical for funding this project and – unlike electrification – there has still been no word as to how the $100 million or so needed for implementing integrated ticketing will be provided. Furthermore, today we learn that awarding the contract for the development of an integrated, smart-card, ticketing system has been delayed. Well, on the positive side, at least it hasn’t been cancelled. It’s still damn frustrating though.

So, what’s up with this whole “integrated ticketing” thing that everyone seems to talk about? Why is it deemed to be so critical? Why is it so expensive? Why has it taken so long? These are all pretty good questions that do deserve and answer and some further discussion.

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