The ghost train

Stuff reports:

It’s been a slow start for passenger numbers on the new Hamilton to Auckland train, with only a handful of commuters travelling on some of the trips.

Figures from Waikato Regional Council shows nearly 100 seats empty on every train after its inaugural journey on April 6.

The train, known as Te Huia, can seat up to 147 people.

On the second day of the service, April 7, 21 commuters travelled on the earliest train from Hamilton at 5.46 am, and 40 took the second train at 6.28 am.

A week later, figures from Tuesday, April 13 show 28 travellers took the earliest train, then 25 people at 6.28 am. Forty-eight people filled the train at Papakura back to Hamilton at 4.42 pm.

This is exactly what many predicted. Some trains have less than 10% of seats filled. What a waste of $100 million.