Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s Bus Fare Policy

Making everyday travel more affordable while keeping the network sustainable.

$50 Weekly Fare Cap

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has introduced a policy that caps public-transport fares at $50 per week for most users. The cap covers AT buses, trains and inner-harbour ferries when you travel with an AT HOP card.
Regular commuters will never pay more than $50 in fares over any consecutive seven-day period.
The cap is a key part of the Mayor’s Long-term Plan (LTP) to ease cost-of-living pressures.
It applies to buses, trains and these ferry routes: Bayswater, Birkenhead, Northcote Point and Devonport. It does not include mid- & outer-harbour services or Te Huia services to Hamilton.

February 2025: AT reduced fare zones from 14 to 9, making longer journeys cheaper for many riders.
Trips wholly inside newly merged zones now count as a single zone (e.g. Beachlands → Sylvia Park; Hibiscus Coast → City Centre).
No matter the distance, customers pay for no more than four zones on any one bus or train trip.

Early 2025 saw an average 5.2 % fare rise to meet rising operating costs.
The $50 weekly cap cushions the increase; roughly 25 000 customers reach the cap each week.

Fareshare Scheme expansion: Businesses with 5 + staff can offset employees’ public-transport costs.
Funding set aside to protect existing bus routes, boost reliability and improve driver safety — including installing security screens across the fleet.