Regional council says it got things 'terribly wrong' with Wellington's new bus network

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

A Metlink driver had to abandon a bus after going the wrong way.

Greater Wellington regional councillors have admitted they got some things 'terribly wrong' with the region's new bus network, and have agreed to start hitting underperforming bus companies with financial penalties.

A report tabled at a sustainable transport committee meeting on Wednesday acknowledged the overhaul of the bus network had resulted in 'regrettable' frustration and disruption, with punctuality rates as low as 66 per cent since July 16.

The problems had been exacerbated by things like a driver shortage and operators using the buses that were too small. Some scheduling issues also needed to be sorted out urgently.

The council says many of the issues have been caused by unexpected factors, but there are also some capacity and timetable issues. (File photo)

Councillor Sue Kedgley said she was still trying to get her head around 'how we got it so wrong'.

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Greater Wellington Regional Council admits getting some aspects of the region's new bus network 'terribly wrong'. (File photo)

* Bus network winners and losers**

'We need to do what everyone said and front up and apologise to the hundreds of Wellingtonians who have been affected over the past few weeks,' she said.

The council says NZ Bus, headed by chief executive Zane Fulljames, has caused many of the lateness and capacity issues by operating the wrong-sized buses. (File photo)

'We have to admit that we got some things terribly wrong in some areas, and we need to act very quickly. It's been unreliable and it's been extremely inconvenient.'

Councillor Paul Swain agreed that things had not gone as well as hoped.

Greater Wellington regional councillor Sue Kedgley says she wonders 'how we got it so wrong'. (File photo)

'Our intent was improvement, but there are lots of things we got wrong and we apologise for that,' he said.

'In order to get the [public's] confidence back, we're going to have to come back with some immediate steps to address the issues.'

Sustainable transport committee deputy chairman Daran Ponter pushed for bus companies to be fined fir under-performing once their 'grace period' was over. (File photo)

The report said the most problematic bus routes were the No. 2 service between Karori and Seatoun, and numbers 3 and 36 between Lyall Bay and Wellington.

Those services had been plagued by over-crowding, delays and cancellations, primarily caused by operator NZ Bus running buses that were too small, and hence, filled up too quickly.

That prompted the committee's deputy chairman, Daran Ponter, to recommend fines be imposed for under-performing operators after their 'grace period' ended on September 30. The recommendation was passed.

'One of the criticisms we had of the old contracts was that we did not have enough levers to pull, we couldn't take a stick,' Ponter said.

'Now that we have those levers [in the new contracts], we need to use them and we need to do that urgently.'

There were also issues with services not running to schedule at some of the new bus hubs. Those were blamed on reliability rather than design problems.

Overall cancellation rates were between 0.8 per cent and 1.4 per cent since the network change, which was similar to the previous six months.

SOLUTIONS

As well as imposing fines for under-performing bus operators from September 30, the council also agreed to review its timeframe for making potential changes and urgently review timetables and capacity on core routes.

The current plan for reviewing the network would not see any extra buses added until March, while any timetable changes would not take place before mid-October.

The council has also agreed to reinstate the off-peak Miramar-Karori service, which connects to Massey and Victoria universities as well as Wellington Regional Hospital, and to look at restoring the connection to Kilbirnie on the number 14 route.

Another 80 new buses will join the Wellington fleet, as planned, over the next few months.

THEY SAID

'The current timetable doesn't reflect the real timetable of a student.' – Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association president Marlon Drake.

'What we've now got is a system where some people have lost confidence in what you're doing.' – Paula Warren, Living Streets Aotearoa.

'You've been saying everything is going to be great, people have realised that everything is not great, so the good stuff has been seen as propaganda.' — Mike Mellor, Living Streets Aotearoa.

'There are almost a dozen suburbs that have had decreased services. Now, how you think that you have improved the system, I don't know.' – Kara Lipski, Public Transport Users Association

'We are really concerned about the impact of this bus service on the liveability and productivity of this city.' – Wellington city councillor Diane Calvert.

'A student from Houghton Bay used to take one bus to Victoria University, which took her 45 minutes. Now she takes three buses and it took her an hour and a half on three or four occasions. She now gets an Uber.' – Simon Woolf, Wellington city councillor.

'Until you've got reliability right, you've got nothing right.' – Public transport advocate Tony Randle.