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Plus One Bus Companion making bus travel more accessible Plus One Bus Companion making bus travel more accessible

18 August 2022

From today onwards people holding a Total Mobility Card will be able to bring a support person with them for free when they travel on all AT Metro bus services.

Auckland Transport Interim Chief Executive Mark Lambert says the introduction of a ‘Plus One Bus Companion’ for Total Mobility Card holders will help give thousands of Aucklanders the confidence to hop onboard one of AT’s more than 10,000 daily bus services.

“We know that there are still barriers in place for some Aucklanders, which can make it difficult to travel with confidence on our public transport network,” Mr Lambert says.

“By enabling support people to travel for free onboard our bus services with Total Mobility card holders we’re aiming to make Auckland that extra bit more accessible by helping give more people the confidence to travel by public transport.”

“This initiative builds on accessibility improvements made across Auckland’s transport network over the past decade, including the widespread adoption of kneeling buses, and construction of accessible footpaths and bus shelters.”

Auckland Transport worked closely with accessibility advocacy groups through the Public Transport Accessibility Group (PTAG) when developing the Plus One Bus Concession and planning its launch.

PTAG member Vivian Naylor (She/Her) says this initiative will make a meaningful improvement for people who haven’t previously had the confidence to travel by bus.

“Plus One will make a huge difference to people who, for all sorts of reasons, have never ridden on buses, maybe due to lacking confidence dealing with the unknown. Travelling on buses can make a huge difference in opening up new opportunities to discovering Tamaki Makaurau,” she says.

Further information:

  • Information sheets in NZ Sign Language, Large Text, Te Reo, Tongan, Samoan, Korean and Chinese are available here: Accessible travel (at.govt.nz)
  • Total Mobility scheme is a nationwide scheme which supports people with accessibility challenges who have barriers to using public transport to travel.  Find out more or apply through this link: Total Mobility scheme (at.govt.nz)
  • From today, a Plus One Bus Companion can travel for free when supporting a Total Mobility Card Holder on any AT Metro bus service. A Plus One Bus Companion can be anyone (whanau, friend, caregiver) the Total Mobility Card Holder wants to support them for their journey.