Public transport fares are changing for under 25 year olds from Wednesday 01 May Public transport fares are changing for under 25 year olds from Wednesday 01 May

Date: 26 March 2024

Free travel on Auckland Transport (AT) services for 5 to 12 year olds and half-price travel for 13 to 24 year olds will end on 30 April 2024, in line with the government’s decision to withdraw funding for these concessions.   

These changes will impact around 200,000 of our registered HOP card users.   

AT’s Group Manager of Growth & Optimisation, Richard Harrison says that many under 25’s will qualify for alternative concessions – such as child, secondary, tertiary and Community Connect.

“We will automatically transition a customer’s concession to the most beneficial one where we have the necessary data. However, there will still be customers who need to reapply, especially those in tertiary education,” he says.    

“We will be directly contacting  impacted customers throughout today with next steps about how they can apply for a new concession, if eligible.”  

Mr Harrison says that AT did investigate continuing the discounts without central government support.  

“Our teams did explore whether we could continue the free and half-price travel for young people from within our own budgets.” 

“With an estimated annual cost to AT of approximately $61.5 million, it was not deemed possible without central government support,” says Mr Harrison.

Head to [at.govt.nz/farechanges]at.govt.nz/farechanges for more information.