Subscribe to RSSNew Bus Routes, New Colours
Watch out for Green, Red & Orange Auckland buses from Sunday August 21 - a few weeks before the Rugby World Cup.
It’s not a RWC promotion. The major bus changes have been revealed this afternoon after weeks of consultation, which attracted 1250 responses.
That consultation has resulted in some changes from the original proposition. The big change is the original LINK goes via Albert St but stops at Britomart as at present and the new Outer Link goes via Wellesley St.
There will be three LINK routes instead of the present one.
New red City LINK bus
- The Inner LINK - the present green buses- will be a more direct route than at present, no longer serving the University and going via Albert St instead of Queen St. 10 minutes Monday to Friday until 8pm; otherwise 15 minutes
- City LINK - red buses serving K Rd, Queen St, Britomart and Wynard Quarter (sharing one stop with the tram). These wil be 7 to 8 minutes Monday to Saturday: every 10 minutes Sunday (K Rd to Britomart), 15 minutes Monday to Sunday to Wynard. The City LINK will become the flagship city centre bus. The current City Circuit bus will be replaced. For the journey between Britomart and the universities, the Mt Eden Rd b.line will now depart every 10 minutes from the front of Britomart Station on Queen St
- The Outer Link - orange buses will use the full Wellesley St corridor.The route comprises Herne Bay, Westmere, St Lukes,, Mt Eden and Newmarket. These will be every 15 minutes Monday to Sunday. The actual route is Wellesley St, Universities, Parnell, Newmarket, Epsom, Mt Eden,Balmoral, St Lukes. The 004 and 006 will become part of the Outer LINK. The 005 will continue to run at peak time, over an extended route from Pt Chevalier beach to Britomart, via Albert St
- For Western Bays, the 020 services are: 020 10 minutes peak , 20 minutes Monday to Saturday, 30 mins nights and Sundays and the 030 30 minutes Mon-Sun.
- Selwyn Village remains unchanged as residents wanted things left the same.
The LINK will be renamed the Inner LINK and two changes will be made to its route, travelling via Albert St rather than Queen St, and direct from Ponsonby and Karangahape Rd to Auckland City Hospital and Newmarket via Grafton Bridge
More details of how it impacts existing services:
- The 010 will be extended to provide a connection to Wynyard Quarter from Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Pt Chevalier
- The new 020 service, using Albert St through the CBD to Britomart, will replace parts of the 015, 017, 024-028, 034 and 035 services, running every 10 minutes at peak, every 20 minutes during the rest of weekdays and Saturdays and every 30 minutes evenings and Saturdays. It will come from Westmere via Garnet Rd, along Richmond Rd and from Ponsonby Rd to the CBD via Freemans Bay (Franklin Rd and Wellington Street).
- A new 030, using Vincent and Albert Streets through the CBD to Britomart, will replace parts of the 034, 035 and 045 services. It will come from Pt Chevalier Rd, and use Great North Rd, then Williamson Ave, Ponsonby Rd to Karangahape Rd.
- The 042-045 services will no longer operate, with journeys provided by the Outer LINK, 005, 010 and 030.
It will require 34 new stops, 41 new electronic real time signs, minor intersection changes especially around Valley Rd and Mt Eden and new branded bus signs.
Auckland Transport ‘s PT network planning manager Anthony Cross who made a presentation to today’s Auckland Council Transport Committee said the changes were being made because:
- the current network is confusing- indirect routes and different routes at times of day
- Queen St has become slow for bus services since crossings gave pedestrians priority
- There’s a chance to build new crosstown connections by joining up existing bus routes
- It builds on the popular LINK concept of simple frequent branded and well promoted services that attract new users.
The new high quality buses, jointly built by the UK and Tauranga painted red, amber and green, will operate on the three LINK services.
As shown on AKT at the weekend, and meeting Euro 5+ emissions standards, they will be 90 per cent cleaner than most of the diesel buses currently operating on Queen St.
They will also be wheelchair-accessible, air conditioned, and have more seated passenger capacity.
To questions, he said there could be some changes over time and he did not rule out Auckland Transport one day considering trams up Queen St.
The unpaid Maori Board Councillor asked 2 questions to Auckland Transport:
Was Maori consulted? Answer: No.
Was Auckland Transport aware the buses go past a Marae? Answer: No.
I held my breath for a question about whether the route had a Taniwha under it!
Councillors hailed the moves as leading to a “quantum leap” in patronage.
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13 Comments
Anyone know who the fare structure will work for these? I would imagine a flat fare as per the current Green Link doesn’t really work on a much longer circuit.
If buses take too long travelling along Queen St, surely the answer is to remove cars.
Maps etc here:
http://www.maxx.co.nz/info/consultations/consultation-feedback-and-changes-auckland%27s-cbd-and-inner-suburbs-buses.aspx#Maps
As stated buses are taking too long on Queen St because of the interminable length of pedestrian light phases and the horse and cart era 30 km/hr maximum speed. Its best avoided full stop.
I am waiting for a man with a red flag to walk buses up this precious strip next.
When is the CBD going to have its own bus terminal for all routes to make catching the bus easy and finding the next one, that is not too dissimilar to pre Britomart railway station?
Maori Stat board is so pointless….its just a money pit
Owen, the issue is less the cars and more the pedestrian crossings. Mid-block crossings, pedestrian-priority phasing, the whole works.
Toss in a lower speed limit and it’s a painful street for buses to travel. Getting rid of the cars won’t deal with the issue of pedestrian priority, and we shouldn’t de-prioritise pedestrians just to improve bus trip times.
Kurt, it is indeed horrible that a street having more than 50,000 pedestrians on it per day* should have a 30km/h speed limit, and generous pedestrian phases. Why should the CBD be for PEOPLE?
*(that count was actually done before the footpath upgrade some years ago - and is more than the people in total using the holiday highway, btw)
@kris_b
I just noticed on the map that the Outer LINK is split into three fare stages - there’s little ‘F’ arrows marked along the route. The stage boundaries are at West End/Jervois Rds, Newmarket, and St Lukes.
Coloured buses give a clear visual language - they seem a cheap and obvious way to reinforce the strengths of particular bus routes.
I would have thought that the bLine buses were going to be yellow to match the branding, but I was obviously confused.
Running ‘normal’ buses does have advantages, obviously, least of which is that you can switch them onto other routes during other parts of the day.
does the bus go past a marae… did the ask the local pastor if it goes past a chuch?
honestly so what if it goes past a marae.
and were maori consulted? did the consult the local indian board? did the talk to the local irish board or the africaners group?
please DO ME A FAVOR…
I am all for culture, but honestly what is point of asking those two questions?
What about those existing buses that go thru Dominion rOAD, 258, 267???
Why will they called the B-line that use for going Queen Street and University? Are they supposed to be create U-line rather than the B Line?
What about those existing B-line servides? are they going to be changing?
Regards
Jacky
So now we know that not only Taniwhas don’t like trains, but they also don’t ride buses…
I think we’ve got a Taniwha in the government (Steven Joyce).
@kris_b
Strange how it isn’t stipulated anywhere in the official material, but looks like the City Link will be free (which makes sense since it was replacing a free service). Pretty great that it now reaches K Rd, but not so great that the university is no longer serviced by a free route.