Bus fares are up!

As of 1 September, bus fares in Wellington increased. I didn’t feel it when I used my snapper. The other day I didn’t have the chance to reload it and I paid in cash. Whoa. From Zone 2 it cost me $3!!! It used to be $2.50 from Zone 3. I wonder how much farther zones cost now.

J and I think that the increase was a bad idea. Just when people have been seriously doing public commuting lately they raise fares up. Just when petrol prices are going down too! People would just tend to ride their cars instead of taking expensive public transport. It just doesn’t make financial sense. However, I still take the bus after dropping the kid at daycare, which is close to J's work. My workplace is about 1.5km from J's. So in this case it only makes sense to bus myself.

Using snapper, the trip home is only $2.25, saving me $0.75. That was the point of introducing snapper though. I know that it saves Metlink money from printing all those paper tickets. However, I also think the “savings” were offset by the purchase of snapper machines and all associated costs of the new technology. Wellington buses are catching up with Auckland’s techy buses. I was on a bus yesterday that had monitor and cameras. :-P

Why are things just getting more expensive???