Auckland Transport cancels express buses in response to commuter 'chaos'

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

Buses backed up at Constellation Station on Auckland's North Shore.

Auckland Transport admits a North Shore bus station couldn't cope with an increase in buses, as evening commuters report 'utter chaos' on the first weekday of a new northern bus timetable.

Bus passengers reported they were stuck in gridlock at Mairangi Bay's Constellation Station for up to 15 minutes, as queues of buses waited to get onto the North Shore busway around 6pm on Monday night.

Commuter Tim Layt said it was 'utter chaos' on Monday night.

It 'took too long to get through the centre and getting out onto Fanshawe was a joke (and it's school holidays)', he tweeted.

@NickRH14 @AklTransport Utter chaos at Constellation this evening. Morning was fine. #NEX2 was good into town. Terrible on the way out. Took too long to get through the centre and getting out onto Fanshaw was a joke (and it's school holidays) 😁 pic.twitter.com/epKOCG7iyz

Photos taken at Constellation Station by commuter Preet Sangha on the first weekday of the new North Shore bus network.

— Tim Layt (@TimMothLayt) October 1, 2018

During the afternoon peak, there were capacity issues at Constellation Station with three buses arriving every minute, Auckland Transport said.

Auckland Transport's (AT) group manager metro service delivery, Stacey Van Der Putten said the station 'couldn't cope with those numbers'.

To improve the bottle-neck, Van Der Putten said some some Northern Express services would be suspended from Tuesday because of 'surplus capacity', but she said those buses will be available for back-up.

Photos taken at Constellation Station of a backlog of buses by commuter Preet Sangha.

Van Der Putten said there were plans to re-organise buses in the lay-over area at Constellation to free up space.

AT would also put-in temporary traffic management at the station to direct bus drivers to the right stop.

'I'm confident we can keep buses moving and we can avoid having a large number of buses backed-up,' Van Der Putten said.

'We are committed to making this work and we apologise to our customers for any disruption during this major change.'

Another commuter, Bert Holl, said he counted in excess of 20 buses at around 5.30pm backed-up at Constellation Station.

'It took maybe an extra three minutes or so max to get around the corner, so no big deal,' Holl said.

'Sounds like it got worse closer to 6pm before it started improving - but I was well gone by then.

'Overall it seems the new bus that I take to Ponsonby will be an improvement - it now runs throughout the day, instead of only on peak, and its increased during peak time - so I can't complain about that.

'It's concerning though that it was like this during the school holidays, it's going to be interesting once school is back with even more buses on the roads.'

Constellation Bus Station at 5.30ish today pic.twitter.com/Hrf9A8PeNX

— Gysbert Holl (@berty_boy_nz) October 1, 2018

On Monday night, Auckland Transport spokesperson Mark Hannan assured commuters a change in schedule would alleviate the problem at Constellation Station.

'There are many more buses operating now so we will look at ways of improving the operation,' he said.

Over the next few years, as part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project, a new northbound platform will be constructed on the other side of the busway at Constellation to improve capacity.

The new network was described by AT as a simpler bus network.

There were fewer routes, but buses were more frequent, particularly between 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.

Throughout the North Shore there were 78 routes running 2545 trips each weekday, with the change in network, there are 55 routes running 3672 trips each weekday.

The new network, which started on September 30, included a second Northern Express, the NX2, from Northern Busway stations to Wellesley St and the city centre universities every five minutes at peak times, and every 10 to 15 minutes at other times.

For the first time, Devonport residents had a direct route to the Northern Busway with a new bus stopping at Akoranga Station and Beach Haven residents could get to Glenfield using a single bus, via Kaipātiki Rd.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as the roll out of North New Network continues this week. A few reminders:• Please allow extra time for your journey• Our AT Mobile app displays new bus stops and routes• AT ambassadors will be at busy bus stops to assist you pic.twitter.com/TIUkx8f5ov

— Auckland Transport (@AklTransport) September 30, 2018