The National Party will set up a dedicated Auckland Transport police team if re-elected.
The policy announcement coincides with the opening of the City Rail Link (CRL) on Sunday morning, which is expected to increase peak commuter capacity through the city centre by around 50 per cent.
National would recruit 50 new officers for the team, and police would receive $7 million per year from Budget 2027.
Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell said the team would boost the visible police presence in trains, buses, ferries, stations and transport hubs.
"Police should be where people are. As more Aucklanders use public transport, it makes sense to have more police on the network.
"A visible police presence helps deter offending before it occurs, reassures passengers and transport staff, and ensures rapid intervention when something does go wrong," he said.
A policy statement released by the party said the team would focus on preventing anti-social behaviour, protecting passengers and staff, and responding quickly to incidents.
It said the team would be established in Auckland first, but could be expanded to other cities if successful.
Mitchell said it would be up to police to decide which services the team would patrol.
"They're very used to working in a way where they identify where the need is and then putting resources there.
"That's BAU (Business As Usual) for police, they gather intelligence, they look at where the work is, and then they put resources in there," he said.
New Zealand Police Association president Steve Watt said it was always good to have more police but pointed out the government had failed to meet past promises when it came to policing numbers.
"The irony behind it all is, however, is that we're still waiting for this government to fulfil its promise of 500 extra cops.
"So an extra 50, you know, who knows when that's going to actually happen."
New Zealand First and National's coalition agreement included a promise that by November 2025 the number of police officers in the force would be increased by 500.
However, the government conceded last year that the target would be missed.
Watt said it was always difficult to choose where to increase police presence but a boost in policing numbers was always a good thing.
Asked if the government had met its target of 500 new police officers, National Leader Christopher Luxon said he was confident that commitment would be met.
"We'll be delivering on that 500 extra police officers, and that's why we're confident we can push on and recruit another 50.
"With extra funding coming out of budget next year, we'll be able to get the police operationalising that funding." he said.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National could not fulfil its promise of 500 extra officers, let alone 50 for a new transport beat.
"Why should New Zealanders believe that they're somehow going to magic up more police when they can't even fulfil the commitment they've already made?
"More police on the beat's a good thing, it would be good if this government showed up with the 500 extra police they promised to have delivered by now," he said.
Meanwhile, ACT leader David Seymour said National were trying to "solve the right problem", but more efficiencies could be found.
"We can get into government with National and talk about how we could achieve what they want, but in a more efficient way and if we want to have no new taxes, then efficiency is going to be absolutely key," he said.
-RNZ