Auckland Transport has hiked bus, train and ferry fares in Auckland.

The Auckland Council-controlled organisation says it reviews fares each year to make sure they keep up with costs.

Auckland Transport (AT) says the average fare increase is 2 per cent, though some travellers will may more.

A cash fare for a 3-zone trip (for example: a trip from Auckland CBD to Henderson) will go up by 7 per cent from $7 to $7.50.

The move comes as Auckland public transport use jumped 5.2 per cent in the 12 months to November last year to 95.6 million trips.
"We would like to have been in position to not increase fares in 2019," AT chief executive Shane Ellison said.

"Over the past three months we have been exploring means of funding any cost gap that could be created by not increasing fares.

"Unfortunately, a small fare increase is needed as any additional revenue generated by new growth resulting from holding fares at current levels is insufficient to meet the costs of providing public transport services without further funding being available.

"We see fares as an important ingredient to getting more people out of cars and into public transport and so we will continue to look at ways we can further reduce the real cost of public transport for our customers in the coming years.

"Operating a public transport system in a growing city like Auckland means that the costs do increase as we put on more services.

"It's a balance for AT to provide an extensive public transport system that has enough capacity for a growing city, but we also know that cost is a major factor in how people travel, so we've found efficiencies in order to keep the fare increase at an average of 1.9 per cent.

"This is well below the inflationary pressures associated with providing public transport."