A two-month extension of half-price public transport – and indefinitely for Community Service cardholders – is being praising a “good first step”, but there is a general feeling more could have been done in Budget 2022 to combat emissions through transport spending.
The Government did not take up a request from Greater Wellington and Horizons regional councils to fund a fleet of hybrid electric trains in the lower North Island.
The hybrid trains could have quadrupled passenger capacity between Wellington and Palmerston North and a business case said for every dollar spent buying the trains, $1.83 would have been earned back.