Funding runs off track

BY GEMMA REDDELL

Helensville’s passenger rail trial is likely to be derailed.

The daily commuter service has lost Auckland Regional Transport Authority funding and could end next month.

An ARTA statement this week said both it and the Auckland Regional Council were suspending the service’s funding, but ARC Rodney representative Christine Rose says the ARC’s decision hasn’t been made yet.

"The ARTA board have made the decision to cut funding whereas it will be an ARC decision whether or not to fully fund the service, or what can be salvaged – to Huapai or Waimauku, from here on in."

She says a decision from the ARC finance committee is likely next week.

Helensville rail proponents haven’t given up hope either. Nor West Rodney Rail Support Group chairman Scott Osmond says he will be waiting to hear the ARC decision first.

ARTA said the trial rail service to Helensville would end in December, before a three-week shutdown for rail upgrading around the network.

The service began on July 14, 2008, and an average 43 passengers daily have used the three daily services, says ARTA customer services general manager Mark Lambert.

"The subsidy paid by the ratepayer and taxpayer per person per journey for this service is $45.72," he says.

"This compares with a regional average of $5.02 per passenger per journey.

"A great deal of time, effort, promotion and research was put in by ARTA towards making this service successful, within constraints such as limited rolling stock and taking into consideration the provision of services to other parts of the region."

ARC chairman Mike Lee says he is very disappointed the trial did not work out, but he says given the current state of the rail system he is not surprised.

He says the ARC is working with ARTA on formulating a more economic replacement service.

"The ARC chairwoman of the transport and urban development committee, Christine Rose, and myself have asked ARTA to assess the feasibility of another trial service to Waimauku with more services to serve a wider catchment of travellers, including students and shoppers, and with the option of integrating the bus service from Helensville with the rail timetable to act as a feeder to Huapai," Mr Lee says.

ARTA will communicate to all customers who used the Helensville service, outlining other available options.

Mrs Rose says there were too many problems with the trial, and the service needs to continue – at
least to Huapai and Wai-mauku.

The announcement of a rail trial in 2008 was met with excitement by the Helensville community, who had lobbied, petitioned, argued and campaigned for renewed services, she says.

She says the first day of the trial started with a great celebration, but problems soon started.

By the second and third days the train was departing the station before the scheduled departure time, leaving passengers stranded at the station, and this pattern was repeated often, affecting reliability, credibility and numbers, she says.

There were continuous breakdowns, including one in the Britomart tunnel, and on a few occasions the train never came at all.

She says the service struggled to get to each of the stops on time, resulting in late arrivals, and sometimes passengers were deposited on cold platforms somewhere along the journey, with no connecting transport or phone link.

On one occasion Mrs Rose says the passengers were left locked in a broken-down train only metres from the station, but prevented from leaving, on a journey that was supposed to get them home at 6.45pm but instead ended at 9.10pm.

She says many train managers were uncertain about the rules of passage, gave inconsistent instructions, and were confused about fares.

The ongoing breakdowns and lateness created a lack of confidence in the network, but some regular users stayed loyal to the service, Mrs Rose says.

"Overall, people from the western corridor have supported the service well, despite its long running journey and uncertainties.

"People wanted this service to succeed and supported it."

Mrs Rose says there were advantages to the service, and it did attract some new users to public transport.

Staff and management showed ability to adapt to challenges after breakdowns and disruptions and the customer service improved, but in the end the unreliablity, breakdowns and overcrowding were too much for most users, she says.

The park and ride stations became graffiti covered, overgrown and littered with rubbish, and there was a real problem with a public address system, meaning communication of service delays or failures was not achieved, Mrs Rose says.

There was also difficulty providing back-up transport for stranded passengers at stations, she says.

Mrs Rose says while some users who experienced the worst were unlikely to get on a Helensville train service again, there are also many who would use rail if it was more frequent, reliable and quicker.

- © Fairfax NZ News