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Speaker 1: So on Friday, just before most of us came back

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Speaker 1: to work, at Casually announced that public transport fairs in

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Speaker 1: Auckland are on the rise from February to first And

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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

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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

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Speaker 1: the consequences of raising the prices. Now. Look, I use

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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,

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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.

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Speaker 1: I have no complaints about the journey. I was there

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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,

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Speaker 1: clogging up the motorway and some north Shore residents we're

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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

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Speaker 1: Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks it

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Speaker 1: Be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio