Overcrowded, unreliable buses follow service changes on Auckland's North Shore

Wednesday, 21 November 2018

Seven weeks after the North Shore bus network started, passengers claim buses don't show up on time or are too full to stop.

An Auckland bus commuter who took 85 minutes to get 8.6km to work blames recent changes on the North Shore bus network.

Dr Sabina Darke catches a 924 bus three times a week from home in Northcote to work in the city and says last Thursday wasn't the first time she had tried to catch the 7.22am bus and been late for an 8.30am start.

'Buses are late, don't turn up, people watch in disbelief as buses keep driving past full, people walk off and find a different way,' Darke said

'No one can rely on the 924 to turn up and/or stop. So, I think everyone has a contingency plan.'

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

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Twice in the seven weeks since the network changed, Darke had walked back home and driven her car to work instead.

Auckland Transport was aware of the problems on the route and media advisor James Ireland said AT was working on a solution.

'We're working with the bus company to put in bigger buses and to try and make the timetables work better so buses are spaced more evenly,' Ireland said.

Late and overcrowded buses were now common on the routes from the western side of the North Shore following changes to the network on September 30, according to commuters.

In Hillcrest near Northcote, changes to the network limited Bo Li's options for getting between his home and Newmarket.

Li said the one option available to him now would be fine - if the bus showed up on time.

'There is no consistency. One day it is five minutes early and then one day it is 10 to 15 minutes late.'

With route changes directing buses through Akoranga Bus Station, the congestion this caused contributed to the delays, Li said.

Fran Sutton, who caught the bus from the same stop as Li, banked on buses not running to time.

'I now leave the house much earlier than I need to and frequently don't see my kids in the morning, just to allow for my scheduled buses to not turn up,' Sutton said.

Sutton and Li said they had both witnessed the impact the changed network had on bus drivers.

'Tempers seem to be rising between both passengers and bus drivers,' Sutton said.

Li said some drivers were unfamiliar with the route and asked passengers for directions.

'We seem to have new drivers each week, it is really strange,' he said.

Commuters on local routes also experienced extended journeys.

For a Birkdale resident the trip to work, on the other side of the North Shore, has doubled in time since the bus network changes, she said.

'I live on Birkdale Rd and work in Takapuna and what used to be a fairly straightforward direct service to Taharoto Rd, lasting approximately 30 to 40 minutes, has since been replaced with what I can only describe as the most inept, incompetent, incoherent, inconvenient, inefficient, infuriating, convoluted Tiki Tour of the North Shore.'

On the first Monday evening of the new timetable, passengers reported they were stuck in gridlock for up to 15 minutes at Constellation Bus Station, as queues of buses waited to get onto the Northern Busway.

AT cancelled some Northern Express services which reduced congestion at the station.

After the new North Shore bus network rollout, AT data showed passenger journeys on the North Shore had increased by almost 89,000 or 9 per cent for October 2018 compared with October 2017.