Globally, personal transport was the dominant type of passenger transport; private vehicle miles were roughly double the vehicle miles accrued by public vehicles, and this is expected to continue over the next few years. A similar trend can be seen in rail passenger traffic, which is predicted to reach approximately 5.15 billion passenger kilometers by 2025.
In New Zealand, the largest number of licensed vehicles, by a significant margin, were passenger cars. Notably, Kiwis adoption of electric cars has seen significant, substantial growth in recent years, peaking at just over seven thousand in 2019.
Domestic air travel is also popular in New Zealand, with the number of passengers carried within the country by Air New Zealand and enjoying year on year growth over the last few years. Additionally, Air New Zealand’s passenger load factors have also enjoyed year on year growth across the same time frame.
Examining public transport, Auckland Public Transport has seen steady month to month patronage across all its services. The company operates train and bus services in and around Auckland, as well as ferries on a small selection of routes. Service to service patronage followed similar patterns, and all were affected by the lockdown imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.