Fullers raking in Goldcard Cash

I’ve been warning for sometime that the Super Goldcard is fatally flawed as it provides for free off peak travel rather than merely discounted. The moment you make something free you fuck up any incentive for rational outcomes.

The Herald reports that taxpayers have paid $750,000 to Fullers in just five months, in return for providing free off peak travel to Waiheke Island.

Now while once upon a time Waiheke was a place where only hippies lived, but it is now home to many of the richest families in Auckland. The 2006 census found only 294 families on Waiheke receiving NZ Super. So the taxpayer is going to end up paying Fullers around $1.8 million to pay ferry costs for 294 families.

Think how much good that money could do funding some hip replacement operations?