Getting To the Bottom Of It

in Auckland Bus Featured by Jon C — July 17, 2011 at 9:54 pm | 3 comments

I swapped from trains to buses for most of the last wintery week in Auckland - because buses generally took me closer to where I needed to go.
Unlike the new $2m Kingsland shelters, most suburban stations are fairly exposed with limited enclosed shelters and I also got tired of being drenched by the time a train arrived.
Even the bigger stations have their problems as well.
Exactly a year ago I complained about the poor construction of the Newmarket walkway from Remuera Rd which was seeping water and published this proof:

Today, one of the weekend papers complained about the same problem as if it were a new thing.
It’s not- it’s always been there as my post showed last year and is shocking because a) the problem has been around since day one and no one has done anything b) it’s an award winning station design.
Once again, it echoes my never-ending moan that construction projects are never properly finished. Good on the architects for having nice Institute of Architects awards to hang on their wall - they deserve them - but no big ups to Auckland Transport for letting commuters continue to get their shoes and socks wet in trying to make it to the station.

But back to the buses.

It’s a winter of discontent again for public transport users.

I’ve had a miserable time. There is so little seating at bus shelters  that for busy stops you too have to stand for ages in the rain - or do so so that you can actually see the bus coming.

But when I did sit down at one shelter, thanks to the inevitable leaks, the seat was very wet and I ended up with a soggy pair of trousers -which of course looked as if I had wet my pants.  I returned home to change and was late.

I’ve been writing about the leaky bus shelter scandal since this blog began and that Wellington Council has started a renewal programme because Adshel has called a halt to doing any more in the capital mainly for financial reasons.

As I returned to a bus stop with a fresh pair of trousers and waited in the rain, I watched the faces of the long queue of rush hour cars sweep past. They looked happy with their warm heaters and loud stereos for company and had no problem with wet bums.

They must have looked out of their windows thinking how sad it was poor people can not afford to travel by car in such harsh conditions.

They have a point. If we get another bad spell, I may just join them.

When I did get a bus, the windows were so rainy and blurry, I went one past my designated spot.

One leaky improvement: remedial work seems to have made the Kingsland underpass from Sandringham Rd not as leaky as it was -but you still can sink your shoes into a depth of water when you reach the stairs at the end of the underpass at the city-bound platform end. Another typically Auckland half-assed solution.

Tags: bus shelters Institute of Architects leaky Newmarkety Opus wet