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April 2022
Capital Connection fare cut welcomed BY FRANK NEILL The government’s decision to discount Capital Connection fares by 50% has been warmly welcomed by community leaders. Transport Minister Michael Wood announced on 22 March that the Capital Connection would be included in the government’s public transport fare discount package. People using public transport will pay 50% less from 1 April.
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The government first announced the fare discount on 14 March, but at that time the Capital Connection was not included. “It’s absolutely fantastic,” Ōtaki Community Board Chair Christine Papps said when she heard the news that the Capital Connection would be included in the 50% fare discount. “It’s got to be good for the commuters going into Wellington from Ōtaki,” she said. “It’s really heartening,” Ōtaki MP Teresa Ngobi told the Ōtaki Mail. “It’s really heartening because we have no other transportation [between Ōtaki and Wellington]. “It’s what our community needs. The whanau will massively benefit from it.” Ms Ngobi was one of the MPs who had been pushing the Transport Minister to include the Capital Connection in the plan to cut public transport fares by 50%, she said. Another aspect was that the Labour Government was focused on environmental impacts, and some 43 to 47% of emissions were made by transport, particularly private cars. So “we really want to encourage people to use public transport,” Ms Ngobi said. The Kāpiti Coast Councillor on Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), Penny Gaylor, also welcomed the subsidy, noting that it broke new ground as this was the first time the government had subsidised the Capital Connection.
“Most people probably didn’t realise that the Capital Connection has never been subsidised by government, unlike every other form of public transport in our country.
possible for passengers but there might be teething issues given the very short lead-in time we have had to implement the government’s announcement,” Cr Gaylor said.
“Thankfully the service will now be included in the temporary discount regime, Cr Gaylor said.
“For the majority of our passengers on buses and ferries the changes should be seamless with Snapper and cash fares being adjusted in time. However, paper tickets and multiple trip tickets on rail are more complicated but I want to reassure passengers that they won’t be out of pocket as we work out the kinks.
“I hope that if the government supports the GWRC Budget bid for new trains to replace the Capital Connection, it will also support our request to bring the service into our Metlink network and therefore the fares will have long-term subsidy security.” Wellington Region’s Metlink will run half-price fares for ferry, train, bus and total mobility services from Friday 1 April. “The Metlink team have worked closely with operators to make the transition as smooth as
“Obviously, Covid-19 continues to put a strain on the availability of our amazing frontline staff so we’re hoping that people will continue to understand the impact that Covid-19 is having on our network at the moment, including with an increase in unplanned cancellations as a result of staff absenteeism,” Cr Gaylor said.
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