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As Aucklanders boarded trains on the city’s new rail network an estimated 90,000 times on Monday, Auckland Transport (AT) noticed a big uptake in SuperGold Card holders making the most of the City Rail Link.
Monday was the first real weekday test of Auckland’s new train services, City Rail Link infrastructure and new train stations, with the system rising to the challenge, says AT.
Stacey van der Putten, the AT chief executive, says Monday was a “fantastic day” for the rail network with a big boost in passenger numbers.
“We had a great day on Sunday getting Aucklanders onboard our new rail network and showcasing the City Rail Link and our incredible new train stations.
“On Monday, Aucklanders stepped things up a level, with an estimated 90,000 train boardings across the day which is about 55 per cent higher than what we saw last Monday.
“It was great to see so many people using the network to get to work, school and university during our peak commuter period, but the biggest change came during the day.
“We actually saw the biggest percentage increase in people travelling on the rail network in between our peak periods, with SuperGold Card holders leading the charge.
“Our early data suggests SuperGold Card holders took about 130 per cent more trips on September 14 than last Monday [September 7], followed by tertiary students and Community Connect users who took about 60 per cent more trips.
“This lines up with what our teams on the ground have been seeing, which is that Aucklanders of all ages, and from all across the city, are getting out to make the most of our new rail network.”
AT says estimates from Tuesday’s morning peak period also show train use was well up on last week, with about 44,000 boardings by midday on September 15, compared with 30,000 at the same time on September 8.
Train services continued to run smoothly on Tuesday, it says, with reliability across the network sitting at about 97 per cent for the morning peak, with 99 per cent of services reaching their destination within five minutes of schedule.
