The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to end the rort that sees millions of dollars funnelled away from motorists into the inefficient and expensive Te Huia Train Service.
A recent review of the train service between Auckland and Hamilton reveals that it has budgeted a $5.45 million contribution from the NZTA for the current financial year. Roughly 90% of NZTA’s Land Transport Fund comes from fuel, registration and road-user charges.
The Minister of Transport recently said that subsides equate to approximately $90 per passenger for each leg of the journey, or $180 per return trip.
The fares from passengers only cover 3% of the operating expenditure, so it is 97% subsidised.
The number of daily passengers is around 250, so around 1% of those who travel on the expressway.
There are nine daily bus services between Hamilton and Auckland.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
5 comments:
Until road transport pays the same proportion of its costs as rail does nothing will change. A truck reportedly does 10000 times more damage to roads as a car. Rail pays for all of its costs by various meams.
NO. Sort it.
people are not freight
The astonishing thing is that so many do use it. Is that the average one way or the top figures attained? More economical vehicles like the old railcars would seem more appropriate, although with the safety standards acheived it is nice to know there is tons of engine up front. At the costs quoted it is unbelievable anyone contemplated provision of the service. How does it compare with th PN Wellington equivalent? Or Wairarapa services? Such commuting has been common overseas for 100 years, but trains were fast.I guess the laptop has made it viable for many users.
i bet dumping te-huia & running 10-seater vans non-stop from auckland to hamilton would be a better option - even if you pay the railway staff to sit at home.
in fact, we should go one step further - run the AT trains only during rush hours & switch to ubers after that. even railbus is a waste of money. also, an empty bus with a single driver pollutes far more than an uber that does not drive as there are no passengers :)
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