4. Question No. 4—TransportSHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote) to the Minister of TransportQuestion No. 4—Transport4. SHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote) to the Minister of Transport: How will Budget 2023 help to get more Kiwis on to public transport?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Last week in Budget 2023 the Government committed to delivering one of the largest packages of investment in public transport in New Zealand's history. As a part of this we've announced that we're making funding available to councils to provide free fares on buses trains and ferries for children aged five to 12 and half-price discounts for all passengers aged between 13 and 24 with that funding available from 1 July this year. We know that transport can be a big cost for Kiwi families and this policy will help to ease cost of living pressures for those families right around the country. Free fares for under-13s could save around $30 per week for the average household of two children and half-price fares for under-25s as well as community services card holders and total mobility card users in the disabled community will help save over 1.6 million Kiwis money if they use those services. By delivering cheaper fares to targeted groups like children and community services card holders Budget 2023 will deliver Kiwis a more sustainable inclusive safe and accessible transport system while helping the bus congestion and keeping prices down and will lower our carbon emissions. Shanan Halbert: How will the funding made available in Budget 2023 help to tackle bus driver shortages? Hon MICHAEL WOOD: In addition to delivering targeted fare reductions Budget 2023 enables further progress to improve bus driver wages which will help to reduce bus driver shortages and make services more reliable. The Budget enables public transport authorities to raise the base wage to $30 per hour for urban drivers and $28 for regional drivers and introduces split-shift allowances and penal rates for those working late at night. This builds on our work in Budget 2022 which supported phase one of improvements to bus driver conditions. The result of that work has meant that we've been able to reduce the bus driver shortage from a peak of 860 in December of last year to under 500 now with hundreds more bus drivers currently being recruited. We've delivered an average increase to bus drivers' wages of over 58 percent since we came into office and this will help to deliver more sustainable and reliable services. Shanan Halbert: How will Budget 2023 funding support councils to restore more bus services? Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Budget 2023 also puts more investment on the table for councils to restore public transport services to pre-pandemic levels. Public transport patronage has been steadily recovering since the pandemic but it hasn't yet reached the same levels. The additional funding that we've provided will help councils to look at restoring services where they've had to make reductions and avoid any further cuts to those important services for our communities. Shanan Halbert: What other investments has the Government made in Budget 2023 to boost public transport availability and reliability? Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Late last week I was very pleased to join regional council chair Daran Ponter and local MPs Terisa Ngobi and Tangi Utikere to celebrate Budget 2023's investment to co-fund a fleet of 18 new trains for the lower North Island which is going to deliver a step change to public transport services along both the Wairarapa and Kāpiti lines. The investment will strengthen those public transport routes reduce time for travellers and result in a much cleaner service. Everyone in New Zealand will benefit from the investments made in Budget 2023 for improved access to public transport cheaper fares and reducing congestion.