People using public transport in Auckland will soon have to fork out as much as 50 cents more per trip.
Auckland Transport (AT) will bring new fares for its bus, train and ferry passengers into effect from February 10.
The biggest price hikes will mostly affect those paying by cash, but increases will also affect people with HOP cards.
By law the company reviews fares each year to ensure they keep pace with operating costs and so that the correct portion of costs are recovered from passenger fares, the agency said today in a statement.
"We would like to have been in position to not increase fares in 2019," AT chief executive Shane Ellison said. "Over the past three months, we have been exploring means of funding any cost gap that could be created by not increasing fares."
Public transport is paid for through passenger fares and subsidies from Auckland Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).
"Unfortunately, a small fare increase is needed as any additional revenue generated by new growth resulting from holding fares at current levels is insufficient to meet the costs of providing public transport services without further funding being available," Mr Ellison said.
"We see fares as an important ingredient to getting more people out of cars and into public transport and so we will continue to look at ways we can further reduce the real cost of public transport for our customers in the coming years."
In the year to the end of November, almost 100 million trips were taken on public transport in Auckland, an increase of 5.2 per cent on the year before.
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