Wellington Public Transport Survey
Wellington Regional Council is doing a survey of public transport fares in Wellington, which is a good thing. The survey is here.
Less good is that you do the survey, and then it critiques your answers, asks you if you want to reconsider, before you submit them!
My answers were:
- Fare structure should be point to point as well as zonal. Point to point charges you on actual distance.
- We should keep the 14 zones, rather than have larger more expensive zones.
- Public transport fares should cost the same per km no matter how far you travel
- There should be higher fares at peak times, double off peak fares
They commented:
A fare system based on your responses would not be simple & easy to understand, and may encourage more people to use public transport.
The fare system would reflect the costs of providing different public transport services, and may encourage economic efficiency e.g. by reducing external costs such as congestion.
The fare system would not be easy to implement and administer, but would support efficient network design, operations and asset utilisation.
The fare system may improve access to public transport for people who do not have access to a motor vehicle, or cannot walk or cycle for most of their trips.
I’m pretty happy with those trade offs.