Reliable public transport: A vital lifeline for rural communities

8/5/2023

By Weston Kirton

After a long campaign, celebrating the inclusion once again of a stop at Taumarunui by the Northern Explorer. Credit: Paul Wheatcroft

Reliable, affordable, public transport solutions are crucial for the wellbeing of rural communities. Unlike urban areas where multiple modes of transportation are readily available, rural areas often have limited or no access to buses, trains, or other forms of public transit. This lack of options can result in significant difficulties for individuals who rely on public transportation as their primary means of travel. Furthermore, the long travel distances characteristic of rural areas poses additional obstacles for those without access to private vehicles.

The tracks are there but the trains are missing in many regions. Credit James Llewellyn

Limited or non-existent public transportation options make it difficult to access employment opportunities, educational institutions, medical facilities, and social services. These challenges not only affect individuals but also impact the overall development and sustainability of these communities. Understanding the importance of reliable public transport in rural areas is crucial to bridging these gaps and fostering inclusive communities.

The trains do stop but are infrequent and expensive. Credit: Paul Wheatcroft

Successive governments have stated their belief that building successful and more resilient regions is the key to building a prosperous nation. This has seen the funding of regional development programmes to identify and unlock the big economic opportunities. A key enabler critical to the realization of these opportunities is the need for the infrastructure to connect people, goods, services, and markets. Reliable public transport is a critical part of this infrastructure that is often overlooked.

Moreover, reliable public transport plays a critical role in sustainable development efforts. By providing viable alternatives to private vehicles, it helps reduce traffic congestion, lower carbon emissions, and mitigate environmental impacts associated with individual car ownership. It also contributes to economic growth by facilitating commuting for work purposes and enabling businesses to reach wider markets.

Good quality, affordable, trains and coaches are important in providing rural public transport networks

The need for reliable public transport in rural areas goes beyond mere convenience; it is a matter of equity and social justice. Accessible transportation ensures that everyone has equal opportunities to participate fully in society regardless of their geographical location. It promotes social cohesion by connecting individuals with essential resources, fostering community engagement, and reducing isolation.

Addressing rural public transport challenges requires innovative solutions that take into account the unique needs and circumstances of rural communities. It involves investing in infrastructure development that improves connectivity while considering cost-effective approaches that optimize resources. Furthermore, enhancing public transportation infrastructure can unlock economic potential by connecting rural communities with urban centers.

Trains carrying bikes in Europe. An ideal way to reach Ohakune to enjoy the many bike trails. Credit: Anthony Cross

By recognizing and addressing the unique challenges faced by rural communities in accessing public transportation, we can work towards creating inclusive solutions that enhance mobility options and improve quality of life for all residents regardless of their geographic location. Government policies and funding play a crucial role in addressing the public transport issues faced by rural communities.

Policymakers need to be working towards creating inclusive transportation systems that benefit all members of society regardless of their geographic location. By implementing comprehensive policies and allocating adequate funding, governments can address public transport issues effectively in rural communities. This not only enhances connectivity but also contributes to economic development, social inclusion, and overall well-being of these regions.

Weston Kirton is the Mayor of Ruapehu District Council

Grace Burnard, Head Girl and Joshua Simons, Head Boy, Ruapehu College and Corbin O'Shannessey, Head Boy, Taumarunui High School who presented at The Future is Rail Conference. Credit: Richard Young.

7 Comments

Keith Strode-Penny

8/7/2023 12:51:30 am

The key aspect that Weston has touched upon, is the role of passenger transport in connecting regional and rural communities with opportunities in larger centres of employment, education, social and recreational activities, and health services. This is a matter of equity, social justice and social cohesion.

Through strategic alignment with rail infrastructure upgrades, closer to our larger metropolitan centres, the capital costs for competitive regional passenger rail can be viable.

Ross Clark

8/7/2023 06:20:27 am

Agreed - to put a context on things, the town has a service with Intercity five days/week out of seven to Hamilton and PM (leaves in the afternoon) and a separate Monday to Friday "hospital shuttle" to Hamilton. This leaves in the morning, returns in the afternoon. The town could do with more, quite apart from trains.

8/8/2023 01:17:03 am

To put further context on things, there has been $65 billion worth of primarily roading projects announced over the last week. By any of the traditional BCR measures, the likely ratio for these projects is such that for every $10 spent, the benefit may be around $1.

Hyperbole on roading announcements aside, it is CAPEX versus wider economic, social and environmental benefits that is by far the greater measure of the value of a passenger transport project. Rail can make sense where the rail corridor is in good enough existing condition for a passenger service to be useful, and where there is enough population to support a service. Pinch-points through the Auckland and Wellington metro networks aside; Auckland - Tauranga, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington does meet this criteria. Small towns and communities along the length of these corridors can also benefit in a way, not possible with air travel.

This all assumes the right sort of product and the right sort of fare structure. The recently cancelled 50% fares bought Aotearoa into much closer alignment with typical per/km fare structures in place for regional passenger services (rail and coach) here, in Australia.

Of note and a challenge to the prevalent narrative on long distance passenger rail in Aotearoa, is that during the 1972 to 1975 Labour government, long distance passenger rail grew strongly in patronage each year. Fares were held to their 1972 level. This included the Silver Star. It was the doubling of rail fares when Muldoon gained power that halved customers on the Silver Star, and ultimately ended that service. This all took place some years before cheap air tickets. The moral to the tale is that a train carrying twice as many passengers at half the ticket price, while maintaining the same operating cost, has a far greater community remit to exist.

FYI is this: Victoria's Vline network (Vlocity trains, slower country trains and connecting coaches), has a fare-box ratio of less than 20%. I understand that includes just a portion of the CAPEX spend on that network over the last 2 decades. With overall healthy passenger numbers (although sometimes very lightly loaded country coaches and trains), and political support from all sides, that 20% is not even questioned.

8/8/2023 03:23:16 am

Keith - thanx very much for pointing out the big fares increase after 1975, which had escaped my attention. Andre's history doesn't mention this, or the resulting cut in demand (about half, according to the data extant in the public domain; the system was handling 1.84m inter-urban passengers in 1970, but this had fallen to 1m passengers by 1980; and 618,000 passengers by 1990).

Muldoon's government, in 1976, also squelched the idea of replacing the railcars, because the cost of doing so ($200m or so in today's money, $20m at the time) was far more than replacing the capacity with coaches ($30m or so in today's money, $3m at the time). That government also pulled the plug on the Wellington-Lyttelton ferry, though the case for keeping it going wasn't all that strong, by that stage.

We do need to have a discussion as to what significant re-investment in inter-urban rail is going to cost, and how the money can be found (and I am no fan of the big investment proposed for roads).

8/9/2023 12:34:17 am

Thank you Ross for raising some good points and solid discussion. Yes there are some decisions to be made on how to prioritize.

A 13.4% fare-box recovery ratio has been mentioned for Te Huia. In that context, it is worth noting that the Auckland metro network bounced around 20 to 25% fare-box recovery ratio for many years. It will have certainly improved in the last few years before COVID arrived, but likely since then; slipped back.

Clearly there were other economic factors at play that made a business case credible enough for the 2008/2017 National led government to (a) fund Auckland electrification, and (b) fund the City Rail Link.

It seems that there is a sweet spot, where the economic uplift and congestion reduction, can justify large scale CAPEX in passenger rail.

It is worth noting that Wellington's metro network has traditionally been able to achieve a 50% fare-box recovery ratio. This may be due to: (a) more journeys from the extremities of the network such as Kapiti Coast - Wellington, (b) faster speeds overall, meaning that (c) higher priced fares can be charged, while still being attractive to a wide demographic of transport users.

Given the seemingly ongoing importance of immigration and the real estate market, to keep the economy moving, then Te Huia's future is likely connected to (a) population growth, driving (b) CAPEX, driving (c) faster speeds and (d) a pathway towards that 50% fare-box recovery ratio.

It is the synergies of opportunity that address the points first raised by Mayor Weston, around social justice, equal access to opportunities, and low carbon transport, serving communities along the backbone of Te Ika-a-Māui Aotearoa.

The case for the North Island Connector + Integrator proposals led by Mayor Weston, and the 19 councils of the NIMT, has always been based around the marginal operating costs, and relatively modest additional capital costs, from extending regional rail out beyond the core Auckland and Wellington passenger commuter rail network investment programs.

8/9/2023 02:06:19 am

A few more comments:

Weston Kirton is the Mayor of Ruapehu District Council, a local authority that has been a staunch advocate for regional passenger rail over decades. Then Mayor Sue Morris, led efforts that ultimately resulted in saving the Overlander Auckland - Wellington train in 2006.

Her successor Mayor Don Cameron, commissioned studies around 2014/2015, that helped to bring visibility to the value of a tourism visitor night, using regional tourism rail. The numbers at that time were calculated to be an average $200 per night, and up to $350 per night for high-end tourists, for a potential visitor, disembarking off a train within the Ruapehu District.

In 2020, under the shadow of COVID, and the possible end of the scheduled Northern Explorer train, it was Mayor Don Cameron, who teamed up with Greater Wellington Councillor Roger Blakeley to begin efforts, on what became the 19 council North Island Regional Passenger Connector rail project.

It is brilliant to have Mayor Weston Kirton take on the rail advocacy lead, with Ruapehu District Council. And superb for representatives from Taumarunui High School, have a voice at the 'Future is Rail Conference'. It is reflective of the deeply important past, present and future relationship that Ruapehu and local communities have with the NIMT.

And lastly: through whanau, I happen to know a young couple, who will be relocating to the central North Island, away from their home-town of Auckland. They are both high achievers in their degrees, outdoor adventurers, and very sociable. They have taken on a big move, to new career opportunities, and to experience living in the regional heartland of the North Island.

They would use a train service to/from events and social engagements in Auckland, in a heartbeat. As would their friends visiting from Auckland. You may find, that with a reliable high quality connection, many young adults might follow their pathway out from over-priced big cities into the regions, to carve out a better life, and make for a far more balanced, vibrant and interesting Aotearoa.

8/9/2023 08:50:02 pm

Thank you, and after some more thinking of my own. Taumarunui has two coaches/day to Hamilton and another to Palmerston North, and if the council thought that they needed another daily return to PN, they could ask Horizons MW to organise it. I'm pointing this out because his request for more connectivity runs the risk of being brushed off by s/o pointing out that the area already has connectivity ... merely not the sort that anyone actually likes using.

Weston would be on stronger ground if he argued that (a) Taumarunui is not especially well-off, so there is a welfare case for more services; and (b) the area needs a proper rail (not coach) link to Auckland and Wellington in order to attract more internal tourism. And he needs to be explicit about the problems of relying on coaches.

Makes you think.

Reliable public transport: A vital lifeline for rural communities

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