{"id":11864,"date":"2026-04-09T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=11864"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:31:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:31:38","slug":"diesel-price-hike-may-cut-public-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=11864","title":{"rendered":"Diesel price hike may cut public transport."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>by Colin Ambler\/cvnznews.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greater Wellington Regional Council is urging the Government to step in as soaring diesel prices threaten the stability of the capital\u2019s public transport network. Without targeted support, the council says Metlink may soon face the difficult choice of cutting services or raising fares beyond increases already scheduled for May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Council Chair Daran Ponter has written to the Ministers of Finance, Transport and Energy outlining several measures the Government could take to protect passengers and ease cost\u2011of\u2011living pressures. He says March delivered record patronage across the Metlink network as rising fuel prices pushed more people toward buses and trains \u2014 but the surge in demand has not offset the financial hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Metlink, escalating diesel costs are adding around <strong>$130,000 per week<\/strong> to operating expenses, with further increases expected despite the ceasefire in the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. Ponter says the situation is becoming unsustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWithout Government support, we will soon be forced to consider cutting services or hiking fares beyond increases planned in May,\u201d he says. \u201cAt a time when households are under pressure, we\u2019re ready to work with the Government on practical solutions that reduce fuel use and mitigate the inflationary costs New Zealanders are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Public Transport Committee Chair Ros Connelly says encouraging off\u2011peak travel is one of the most effective ways to manage demand without reducing services. With spare capacity available outside peak hours, she believes the Government could help by allowing civil servants to shift their start and finish times and by encouraging private employers to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe increasing patronage shows how critical public transport is right now,\u201d Connelly says. \u201cPeople rely on it every day to access work, school and essential services. Supporting public transport during a fuel crisis is a shared responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The council has also asked the Government to consider higher off\u2011peak discounts and to relax private share\u2011funding requirements. Meanwhile, Metlink is rolling out improvements of its own, including enabling full adult fares to be paid with bank cards and mobile devices from 12 April, and optimising its electric bus, train and ferry fleets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ponter says Metlink could defer its planned 3.1% fare increase on 15 May if Government support is secured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not asking for free fares. We\u2019re asking for practical, targeted assistance to help communities with fuel costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Colin Ambler\/cvnznews.com Greater Wellington Regional Council is urging the Government to step in as soaring diesel prices threaten the stability of the capital\u2019s public transport network. Without targeted support, the council says Metlink may soon face the difficult choice of cutting services or raising fares beyond increases already scheduled for May. Council Chair Daran<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[913,113,399],"coauthors":[446],"class_list":{"0":"post-11864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-fuel-crisis","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-wellington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11866,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11864\/revisions\/11866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11864"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}