20 August 2024
File Ref: Response to LGOIMA Request 2024-180
Tony Randle
FYI website
By email:
[FYI request #27573 email]
Tēnā koe Mr Randle
Request for information 2024-180
I refer to your request for information dated 11 July 2024 which was received by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (Greater Wellington) on Wednesday 31 July 2024.
You have requested the following:
“I understand from the WCC that you and the GWRC undertake an annual "Wellington CBD
Cordon Survey" of travel into and out of the Wellington CBD. I understand that there are four
annual cordon surveys:
* Vehicle Occupancy
* Pedestrian
* Cycling
* Public Transport User (done by the GWRC)
Can the WCC please provide the CBD cordon survey data for Vehicle Occupancy, Pedestrian,
Cycling and Public Transport User for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024?
It is preferred that the requested information be provided in its complete and original
electronic spreadsheet format”
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
Background
The Wellington CBD cordon survey has been undertaken every March since 1999, except 2022
when the survey was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The survey captures people crossing the Wellington CBD cordon in the AM peak, inbound,
between 7am and 9am by light vehicle, public transport (bus and rail), walking and cycling.
Wellington
office Upper
Hutt Masterton
office 0800
496
734
PO
Box
11646 PO
Box
40847 PO
Box
41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wellington 6142 1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[email address]
Wellington City Council collect the light vehicle, walking and cycling data whilst Greater
Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) collect the PT data.
Methodological changes between 2021 and 2023
Up until 2021, the methodology for undertaking the survey was as follows:
• Bus – surveyors boarded buses at the cordon crossing locations to count the number
of persons on-board
• Rail – surveyors counted the number of persons exiting Wellington Rail Station
towards Bunny Street, Wellington Bus Station, Platform 9 and Victoria university
(entrance within Station foyer) as a proxy for persons alighting from rail services
arriving into Wellington
From 2022 onwards for bus and 2023 onwards for rail, a revised methodology using Snapper
card data has been developed to estimate persons crossing the Wellington CBD cordon by
bus and rail.
Whilst this revised method allows us to continue to monitor and analyse long term trends,
caution should be taken when comparing pre 2022 and post 2022 cordon survey data for a
number of reasons:
• the new methodology does not capture children crossing the CBD cordon on
dedicated school buses –
from historical pre 2020 data, children travelling on
school buses typically accounted for around 5% of people crossing the CBD
cordon
• the new methodology uses the scheduled bus stop arrival time to estimate the cordon
crossing time, as opposed to the actual observed time that was used prior to 2019 –
this is likely to have a negligible impact
• the new methodology counts people alighting from rail services as recorded by the
Snapper terminals, as opposed to the old methodology that captured people exiting
the station and might have included people walking through the station concourse –
the likely impact is that the old method slightly over-estimated the number of
people alighting form rail services at Wellington Station
• the new method excludes cash fares
– with only a very small percentage of peak
period users paying with cash, this is likely to have a small impact
Data
Appendix 1 attached to this letter is a spreadsheet that contains:
• summarised bus and rail PT cordon survey data for the years 1999 to 2024
Page 2 of 3
link to page 3
• input bus and rail data from 2022, 2023 and 2024 (similar to what was previously
provided via surveyor spreadsheets)
Noting the limitations outlined above, the following key points can be noted:
• the 2022 PT numbers are low as New Zealand was in the Covid Red Framework at that
time with (working from home encouraged) and Parliament protests also resulted in a
lower number of people travelling into the CBD
• rail alightings at Wellington Station in 2024 during the AM peak period are around 30%
lower than the number recorded in March 2019 - this broadly aligns with wider Metlink
monitoring for the same perio
d1
• bus cordon crossing volumes in the AM peak are around 5% higher than in 2019, and at
a similar level to the pre-Covid peak observed in March 2017
Summary
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to
request an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information
requests where possible. Our response to your request will be published shortly on Greater
Wellington’s website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Luke Troy
Kaiwhakahaere Matua | Group Manager Strategy
1 Microsoft Word - Mar24 Metlink monthly performance report.docx
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