{"id":603056,"date":"2026-09-17T09:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/603056\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:06:12","slug":"waikato-regional-council-posts-40m-loss-on-public-transport-as-fares-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/603056\/","title":{"rendered":"Waikato Regional Council posts $40m loss on public transport as fares rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

More people are using Waikato\u2019s public transport network but the regional council has still taken a $40 million loss on operational costs.<\/p>\n

And ticket prices are about to go up for bus and train users, as the council tries to ensure fares cover more of the cost of the service.<\/p>\n

A fare increase was the only option that fit the bill to manage rising fuel costs while not affecting ratepayers, according to council chairperson Warren Maher.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to ask ratepayers to pay more, so increasing passenger revenue is our only real option.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council also recently proposed removing free on-peak bus travel for SuperGold members<\/a>, a move slammed by Grey Power Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Operating the public transport system cost the council $51.1 million in the 25\/26 financial year, according to a report to the public transport subcommittee. Of that, $42m was for buses and $8m for rail.<\/p>\n

Revenue reached $9.7m, which consisted of $7.1m in fares, $440k in third-party funding for concessions, and $1.4m in Crown funding for concessions.<\/p>\n

Usage of rail saw a major boost during the quarter, with Te Huia registering a 26% increase on the same time last year. In the same period, week-on-week bus use also rose by 14%.<\/p>\n

The increase was put down to \u201ccontinuity of rail services and rising fuel prices\u201d, a council report read, adding council \u201cachieved the private revenue target for the 25\/26 financial year\u201d set by NZTA.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Te Huia train between Auckland and Hamilton will also be subject to price changes. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

It follows previous reporting by Waikato Times where a 14% increase on expected cycling rates was detected by Hamilton City Council in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the whole financial year, there are 4,183,094 trips taken on bus services in the Waikato. This is a slight increase compared to the previous financial year,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile patronage has increased steadily from 2022\/23, without the introduction of new services or further service level improvement, patronage is now expected to stabilise at current levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Price rises are coming for passengers, with a 25% hike slapped on all Te Huia fares starting on September 28.<\/p>\n

It means a return trip from Hamilton to the Strand train station in Auckland would cost Bee card users $60 instead of $48.12. Cash payments would similarly rise from $80 to $100 return.<\/p>\n

Bus users will also pay more per zone travelled. For example, three zones will cost $5.90 for Bee Card holders instead of $5.35. The maximum zone count, nine, rises from $24.06 to $26.50.<\/p>\n

The current ratepayer subsidy per passenger for Te Huia is $34.92. Ratepayer subsidy across bus services vary, but land at approximately $3.62 per passenger (about $3 for urban and $5-$13 for rural routes).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ratepayer subsidy varies depending on the overall cost of the service, its patronage, and the fares collected through the year,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommercial sources of revenue that offset the Council share of operational expenditure, such as bus back advertising and Bee Card sales, are managed at a network level but are apportioned to units by service kilometres.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More people are using Waikato\u2019s public transport network but the regional council has still taken a $40 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9001,111,43,139,69,112],"class_list":["post-603056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-hamilton-waikato","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}