LETTERS: Clipping the ticket | Auckland Opinion | Local Voices from Auckland, New Zealand

It makes no sense to increase public transport fares if you want to encourage usage. The NZ Transport Agency seems to be missing a key point - if the people who use public transport today start driving tomorrow, the roads won't cope.
That is why we subsidise public transport - same the world over. It is cheaper than building more roads and motorways and destroying the air, waterways, green spaces etc. You'd also need more car parks and infrastructure - hardly good city planning.
Over a million more people got on a bus, train or ferry the Auckland Regional Transport Authority reported in April 2010, than in the same period in 2008-9. Some 110,000 more used the Northern Express busway. That proves: give people a viable alternative and they will take it.
Victoria
Greenlane

Your statement that "Auckland is known for having a terrible public transport system" is not true. I use it to get around and reckon it is actually very good, considering the low population density of the city.
Buses have to stop frequently and nowhere can you expect millions of dollars worth of equipment to be at one's beck and call on every street corner. 
Just have a look at the bus/train/ferry maps of the wider city to see how comprehensive it all is.
Bill Tucker
Newmarket