A spike in the use of transport service Total Mobility has prompted a southern council to take action. Photo: LDR / Matthew Rosenberg
Budget blowouts have forced Invercargill City Council to propose changes to its subsidised travel programme for those living with impairments.
Total Mobility is a nationwide service that has existed since the 1980s, providing transport options for eligible users.
But use of Invercargill's offering has spiked in recent years putting financial strain on the council.
A report prepared for a meeting this week said costs were unsustainable with budgets being overspent to the tune of $80,000 - $100,000 every month.
The problem began when government increased the trip subsidy to 75 percent during Covid, prompting some taxi firms to absorb the remaining 25 percent of the fare.
Trip numbers doubled as a result with some patrons taking up to 225 a month.
A series of proposed steps aim to address that issue, beginning with a change to operator contracts so that the remaining 25 percent of the fare is always charged.
If that doesn't work, the council will limit the number of trips to 30 per month before dropping the subsidy to 50 percent - dependent on technological possibility.
Council manager strategic asset planning Doug Rodgers said changes would be brought in at three-month staging because time was of the essence.
"I'm loathed to make it any longer for the pure reason that we could get six months into this programme without any changes and essentially the bucket will be empty," he said.
"And that is a pretty severe impact on the user."
Rodgers said a combination of increased subsidy and operators not charging had resulted in a free service: "and who's not going to take that up?"
The reason it was hitting ratepayers in the pocket was because the original 50 percent subsidy was made up of 60 percent funding from the National Land Transport Fund and 40 percent from the council.
The 25 percent top-up subsidy from Covid times was funded by the Crown.
Steady growth in the service meant the cost to council was forecast to jump from around $1.46 million in 2024/25 to around $2.1m for 2025/26.
Elected members shared a range of views during discussion.
Councillor Alex Crackett said it was important to find a happy medium or compromise, while Lesley Soper said a partial contribution from users had always been a part of the scheme's equity.
Mayor Nobby Clark feared proposed changes could create hardship for people who used the service to access employment, get groceries, attend appointments and go to the pool.
The subsidy for each Total Mobility trip is capped at an upper limit which varies between regions.
Not all southern users clocked up high trip numbers, with the report saying 63 percent used the service less than 10 times a month.
A back-up plan if technology doesn't support a scaled subsidy approach is to introduce a hard cap of 30 trips per month.
A last resort, once all options have been tried, is to bring a report back to committee proposing the subsidy be returned to 50/50 for all trips.
Proposed changes are yet to be approved at full council.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
