1 December 2023
File Ref: OIAPR-1274023063-24266
Tony Randle
By email: [FYI request #24655 email]
Tēnā koe Tony
Request for information 2023-281
I refer to your request for information dated 4 November 2023, which was received by Greater
Wel ington Regional Council (Greater Wel ington) on 4 November 2023. You have requested the
fol owing:
“I am interested in the extent to which Wel ington public transport is subsidised.
I would also note that this information has been requested of the GWRC and provided in the past:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/21598-ptom-unit-patronage-fare-and-subsidy-information-from-june-
2019#incoming-82048
For each PTOM unit for Greater Wel ington public transport services (bus, train and ferry) for the
years 2021/22 and 2022/23, can the GWRC please provide:
1) The patronage data for the unit by month
2) The fare Revenue for the unit by month
3) The data that shows the extent to which the unit is subsidised by month
4) The Commerciality Ratio for the unit by month
If this information is held in electronic form, it is preferred that the information is provided in its
complete and original format.”
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
Please refer to Attachment 1 which contains the requested information.
We note that we have provided you with the requested information for the 2021-2022 financial year
in our previous response to you dated 20 February 2023 (File Ref: OIAP-7-27001 re: LGOIMA-2023-
Wel ington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wel ington 6142
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]
011). On that basis, the Attachment 1 to this response is an updated version of the Attachment 1 to
LGOIMA 2023-011 with the information for the financial year 2022-23 added.
Attachment 1 contains the information you have requested as fol ows:
Table 1 provides patronage information for each operating unit by month
Table 2 provides fare revenue information for each operating unit by month
Table 3 provides SuperGold fare revenue information for total network and units by month
Table 4 provides operating expenditure information for each operating unit by month
Table 5 provides the expenditure at 51% Funding Assistance Rate for each unit by month
Table 6 provides Commerciality Ratios for each bus operating unit and for the network
The Commerciality Ratios are calculated for the financial years 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 based
on the approach and formula set out in Appendix H of Waka Kotahi’s Procurement Manual which
can be found at: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/procurement-manual/.
Appendix H of the procurement manual requires calculation of Commerciality Ratios only for the
region as a whole, and for each unit of public transport services identified in the Regional Public
Transport Plan (RPTP) and separated by mode. Therefore, Greater Wel ington does not calculate
Commerciality Ratios for each month.
Please note that:
The Commerciality Ratios provided in Attachment 1 are not representative of Greater
Wel ington Regional Council’s Revenue and Financing policies in the Long Term Plan.
Greater Wel ington does not use the Commerciality Ratios as a performance measure to inform
its budget and funding structure in the Long Term Plan or Annual Plans.
Greater Wel ington does not consider Commerciality Ratios as an appropriate measure to
monitor the extent or distribution of subsidy over time. This is primarily on the basis that the
cost components used to calculate the Commerciality Ratios do not include the expenses that
are necessary to deliver the services, including the capital expenditure associated with fleet,
network access charges for rail services, infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, and
network-wide costs such as ticketing and real-time information.
Metlink ferry services are operated under a net contract. Therefore, the cost component of the
Commerciality Ratio includes the fare revenue as a proxy for the balance of the costs after
contract price to estimate the gross operating costs.
The ferry fare revenue is provided in this attachment as a total annual sum and used to calculate
the Commerciality Ratios in Table 6.
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For the bus network, the expenditure includes the Base Service Fee, indexation, and Special
Event Service Fee and the SuperGold funding is al ocated to units based on their share of the
total SuperGold patronage.
The fare revenue values do not include government funding of half-price fares and COVID-19
funding support of the foregone revenue.
The Airport Express service has been in operation as Unit 20 without funding contribution from
central Government. Greater Wel ington has been ful y subsiding the Airport Express services.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to request
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information requests
where possible. Our response to your request wil be published shortly on Greater Wel ington’s
website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Samantha Gain
Kaiwhakahaere Matua Waka-ā-atea | Group Manager Metlink
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