The agency running Auckland's public transport is spending more than $100,000 a year for staff to travel in taxis and private vehicles between its two main offices.
Auckland Transport said the 11-seater shuttle last month carried an average of almost two passengers per trip. Photo: RNZ / Todd Niall
The agency wants to cut 20 cars from its fleet and reduce the amount of money paid to staff using taxis or their own cars between the Henderson and downtown offices.
It is spending more than than $120,000 trialling a shuttle to carry staff between the sites. The offices are connected by direct train and bus services but a paper released to Radio New Zealand shows Auckland Transport did not consider public transport when it set up the service.
The agency has released the business case for the shuttle service two months after it was first requested by Radio New Zealand.
It compares the cost of minibuses against the potential savings from cutting the vehicle fleet, and other travel costs. There is no mention of public transport.
"Well the business case, or whatever it is you have, doesn't state the obvious," said Auckland Transport chief executive David Warburton. The shuttle was 15 minutes quicker than the bus service between the two offices, with the rail service even slower, he said, and the accumulated time saving over a year was equivalent to the salary of an employee.
When Radio New Zealand broke the shuttle story in June, public transport advocates said if buses and trains weren't good enough for the agency's own staff, they should be improved.
Dr Warburton said the third and final stage of the trial in September and October, would be accompanied by a ban on staff being able to claim for use of their own vehicles.
The Auckland Transport paper supporting the decision to introduce a shuttle, shows that the agency spends $237,500 a year reimbursing staff who use their own vehicles for business. A further $75,000 is spent on taxis.
The document estimates $95,000 of that can be saved, if staff stopped using their own vehicles between Henderson and downtown, and that $15,000 could be cut from the taxi budget.
Auckland Transport says the 11-seater shuttle last month carried an average of almost two passengers per trip. It will make a decision on the shuttle in September or October.
