AT Local EV rideshare trial extended

Auckland Transport’s electric rideshare service on the Devonport peninsula will be extended for another six months.

And AT is considering launching further on-demand rideshare trials, with a potential focus on the south and west of the Auckland region.

The trial extension past the initial year will enable AT to better understand how the service performs in the summer when more customers are expected for the three Hyundai Ioniq cars and three LDV EV80 vans.

Launched in November 2018, AT Local is the first on-demand rideshare service in New Zealand using only electric vehicles, and among the first in the world.

It aims to make the first and last leg of a public transport journey easier, giving Devonport people more incentive to use ferry services where parking is often congested or restricted.

The AT Local service is achieving its weekday ridership targets, averaging 216 rides per weekday since August 1, with more than 36,000 rides provided.

“We’ve worked very closely with our app partner, Via Mobility who have continued to improve the functionality, based on customer feedback,” Integrated Network executive general manager Mark Lambert says.

He says the operator, Go Bus, has been a great ambassador for the service, with 98% of customers giving their ride a five out of five rating.

Lambert says the trial has provided AT with a considerable amount of insights and learnings about rideshare that would be beneficial should the service be rolled out in other areas.

Recent customer surveys show that 43% of customers using the service have moved over from using private vehicles.

AT is considering extending the Devonport rideshare zone, currently researching this.

“Devonport now has the best access to transport facilities,” Devonport resident Heather Young says, adding the AT Local app-based service has helped her transition to the digital age.

The trial extension will have some changes with weekend services being discontinued from November 23 due to ridership being below the benchmark.

Services will run later on Friday nights, in response to customer feedback.

AT Local compares favourably other Australasian rideshare operations, ranked at least in the top three across a range of key metrics, including weekday riders, peak hour ridership and percentage of bookings completed, AT says.

It adds the operating costs for the initial trial were funded by the NZ Transport Agency.