Grey Power June 2016

national Greypower mAGAZINE » june 2016 13
Assurances that free off-peak transport is secure
doesn’t convince new president Tom O’Connor
Newly elected Grey Power Federation
president, Tom O’Connor, is not
convinced by Government assurances
that free off peak public transport for
SuperGold card holders is secure.
The Super Gold
Card, and the provision
of free public
transport in most
main centres, was the
initiative of New Zealand
First leader Winston
Peters. Free offpeak
public transport,
provided by regional
councils and unitary
authorities through
contracts with passenger
transport companies,
was added to the
SuperGold in 2008.
“This turned out to be
much more popular than
anyone thought it would
and the demand has
grown rapidly,” he said.
Mr O’Connor said one
of the more serious problems
faced by many retired
people was sudden
social isolation which
comes when they are no
longer required to go to
work every day. With age
and a reduced income
many also find driving in
large cities increasingly
daunting and costly, and
they can quickly became
“house bound” and very
lonely. Free off-peak
travel meant they could
get out and about and
keep in touch with the
wider community.
It did not
take long for
pensioners to
realise what
was happening
and they are
not having any
of it.
The cost was met by
the Government which
reimbursed the councils
initially to the tune of
about $18 million. However
just eight years later
that costs is predicted to
rise to around $28 million
with greater increases
expected as the number
of people reaching
retirement age increases
over the next decade or
more.
“That should not
have come as a surprise
to anyone as the growing
population of people
drawing national superannuation
had been
causing anxiety for successive
Governments for
several decades,” he said.
In addition to the
cost on the public purse,
however this group also
has an equally increasing
political impact at the
general election polling
booth and that should
also not come as a surprise.
Late last year the Ministry
of Transport told
local authorities that
there would be changes
to the scheme, in the interests
of efficiency, to
come into effect in July
this year. The efficiency
was in fact nothing
more than a cost saving
scheme in drag. In a
Grey Power Federation
president Tom O’Connor
similar efficiency drive
imposed on schools,
government funding will
change from individual
fare reimbursement to
a bulk funding model
capped at $28 million,
for the next five years,
with minor adjustments
for inflation.
Another unpopular
and cynical change will
be a requirement for SuperGold
cardholders to
buy a smartcard to travel
free in off-peak times,
effectively transferring
the scheme off the SuperGold
card to another,
more easily manipulated
scheme.
Transport Minister Simon
Bridges has claimed
the changes will be value
for money, but whose
money is he talking
about? His ministry has
told regional councils
they may be able to find
efficiencies over the next
five years but no indications
have been given
where those efficiencies
could be made or the extra
money found.
“If the transport companies
refuse to lower
their costs, and most are
probably as low as possible
now, the only other
source of funding is regional
council ratepayers
and that would not be a
fair transfer of a central
government [promise to
someone else]”.
Apart from the obvious
benefits for people
who would otherwise
be stuck at home and
in danger of social isolation,
even in big cities,
Mr O’Connor said
the current system also
keeps public transport
in operation and making
money during the otherwise
quiet off peak hours
of the day.
“The Transport Minister,
it seems does not
want to engage in that
debate and instead wants
to cut back the cost of
the off-peak travel for
SuperGold card holders
without attracting too
much attention and put
yet another central government
obligation onto
regional councils.”
It did not take long
for pensioners to realise
what was happening and
they are not having any
of it. They don’t go to
(political) war often but
when they do there are
usually serious casualties.
Minister Bridges
would do well to ask
some of his senior colleagues
what happened
when a previous Government
tried to impose
a surcharge on national
superannuation 30 years
ago.
“That was how Grey
Power was born and we
now have a membership
of about 65,000.
The surcharge proposal
was quickly consigned
to the waste paper basket
where it should be
joined by any attempt to
foist the cost of Super-
Gold card off-peak travel
onto regional councils or
downgrade the scheme.”
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