Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Andrew Dickens: Auckland Transport needs to get it together

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Andrew Dickens: Auckland Transport needs to get it together · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So on Friday, just before most of us came back
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: to work, at Casually announced that public transport fairs in
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Auckland are on the rise from February to first And
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think they're the only ones in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: I think many regional authorities and councils are about to
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  Speaker 1: jack up the transport costs that you have to pay
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  Speaker 1: to get to work. So in Auckland they're going up
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  Speaker 1: by five point one percent, which is higher than inflation,
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  Speaker 1: but they claim transport costs have risen by up to
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  Speaker 1: sixteen percent, so they tried to make us feel as
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  Speaker 1: though they were doing a good job. Meanwhile, parking costs
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: in eighty controlled buildings and areas are going up by
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  Speaker 1: fifty cents an hour. For adult commuters, this means a
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  Speaker 1: ten to twenty five per cent increase per bus or
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  Speaker 1: train trip. But if you're like me and you take ferries,
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  Speaker 1: it's an extra forty to sixty cents per ferry journey. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I understand prices go up, but I'm not sure that
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  Speaker 1: AIGHT and other public transport operators around New Zealand realize
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the consequences of raising the prices. Now. Look, I use
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a ferry, and in fact I use one on Saturday
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  Speaker 1: to go to a sale GP watching party. That meant
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  Speaker 1: I spent fifteen dollars return its base, seven dollars forty
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  Speaker 1: one way and seven dollars forty bucks. It's basically fifteen bucks.
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  Speaker 1: From February to first it'll be sixteen bucks. That was
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  Speaker 1: fine because it was just me, But if I took
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  Speaker 1: my partner that would be thirty two dollars return to
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  Speaker 1: go from Devonport to Newmarket in Auckland. And that's getting
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  Speaker 1: very close to a price point that says I can't
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  Speaker 1: justify using PT. And if there were three of us,
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  Speaker 1: if I took a son, I might as well just
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  Speaker 1: get an uber. And that defeats the purpose of public transport,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: which is to get cars off the road, to make
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  Speaker 1: public transports so efficient that you decided to take it
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  Speaker 1: because it's good on price and it's good and convenience.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I have no complaints about the journey. I was there
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: in half an hour. I also wondered what the thinking
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  Speaker 1: was that meant that the southern line from town to
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  Speaker 1: ed Shearm was closed for maintenance. This was a chance
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  Speaker 1: to let people experience alternative transport options. Why didn't they
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  Speaker 1: just open it up one line. They didn't have to
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  Speaker 1: open up the Western or whatever or the eastern. Just
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  Speaker 1: open up that one and people could go from town
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  Speaker 1: to ed Sheeram. But no, instead people ended out in buses,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: clogging up the motorway and some north Shore residents we're
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: still trying to get home at two am. And it
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  Speaker 1: reinforced the idea that not just trains are unreliable, all
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  Speaker 1: public transports and it's getting expensive. So Augan Transport and
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  Speaker 1: all our transport operators get a load of bad press,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not helped if they keep shooting themselves in
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  Speaker 1: the foot with their decision making. For more from Early
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks it
• 2:25
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• 2:28
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