Major Wellington event tickets could include Public Transport fares

Report from LDR by Justin Wong
Wellington’s next global pop concert or international football quarterfinal at Hnry Stadium could see a few dollars from every ticket going to Metlink to cover public transport.

Regional councillors will decide today whether to make bundled public transport fares standard policy for major events, meaning ticketholders would effectively pay for public transport whether they used it or not.

But the criteria for which events qualify – and how much Metlink should charge – remains unclear.

One councillor said Metlink was currently subsidising most of the socalled “free” public transport for events and that the arrangement was unsustainable.

However, the region’s economic development agency, WellingtonNZ, warned the proposal could deter major events from choosing Wellington.

If passed, the policy would replace Metlink’s current approach, where officials negotiate with organisers on a case-by-case basis to embed public transport in event tickets – as happened for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup, international rugby tests and Ed Sheeran’s show earlier this year.

At last Saturday’s Super Rugby grand final – where the Hurricanes crushed the Chiefs 60-5 – the club and WellingtonNZ paid Metlink a lump sum to cover the cost of running public transport for the event.

Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter said the lump sum did not cover the full bill.

“There’s no ‘free’ within the system,” Ponter said. “Somebody is paying and that’s either the taxpayer or the ratepayer, or both in most cases.” He added a fixed policy would inject more certainty than case-by-case negotiation.

A council paper estimated that on normal fares, Metlink could collect $480,000-$900,000 fare revenue a year during major events.

The average return journey to a stadium event was about $12 a person, but Metlink only gets back $1-$2 per ticket under the current arrangement.

While that helped with “customer experience, operational flow and event attraction”, the paper said it was at the expense of the public transport operator’s pocket.

“A price closer to $6 better reflects lost fares and additional service capacity but may make Wellington less competitive for event bids and may deter promoters from taking up integrated event ticketing.”

Officials recommended a lower default price with room for lower pricing, to give Metlink a strong negotiating position but keeping some flexibility.

But WellingtonNZ chief executive Mark Oldershaw said the proposal could “adversely affect” the capital’s chances of hosting major events and Wellington needed to do everything to remain an event-friendly city.

“With Wellington’s Major Events Fund relatively small compared with other cities across Aotearoa and Australia, we need to stay competitive in every aspect of our bids,” he said.

“If we don’t keep pace with the expectations of organisers and attendees, we risk missing out on exciting events including concerts and sporting fixtures, plus the economic benefits they bring to the region.”

Ponter said the policy’s aim was to provide more seamless travel for event-goers and encourage them to use public transport.

– Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air

Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
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