Otago Regional Councillors today agreed to raise fares for adults and end free fares for 5- to 12-year-olds. From late September, adult fares will rise from $2 to $2.50 (with a Bee card) and 5- to 18-year-olds will pay a $1.50 fare in both Dunedin and Queenstown.

Public and Active Transport Committee Co-Chair Andrew Noone says, “This was a difficult decision to make, knowing the impact it will have for people. We are balancing the requirements from central government to increase the proportion of public transport funding from things like fares, rather than rates or government funding, along with community expectations.”

“Community feedback on the Regional Public Transport Plan shows 89% of submitters want us to retain free child fares. We will be outlining our disappointment that the policy we have to work within is not flexible enough or fit for purpose to consider local conditions, especially regarding child fares,” Cr Noone said.

Councillors agreed to write to the Minister of Transport, Minister of Education and Associate Minister of Education to express concern about the unintended consequences of raising child fares to meet private share which could potentially affect school attendance rates.

These decisions are part of the Otago Regional Public Transport Plan review.

Other key decisions

• Moving to a zone fare structure in the future was also approved. Further analysis and modelling will be carried out and there is no timeframe for this change yet.
• The Council supports public transport connectivity within Otago and will support investigations into community transport, with the timing and scale of any future community transport programme to be decided in future Council meetings.
• Some regional upgrades will not happen due to co-funding gaps, but the Council is committed to finding ways to improve connectivity options for Ōamaru, Balclutha and Central Otago.
• A business case to assess Wānaka public transport options will go ahead following strong public support.