Subscribe to RSSMoves To Ease Overcrowding
Moves have been made to try to ease the growing overcrowding on Auckland’s buses and trains and to help those who miss out on catching a bus because the bus has too many passengers to pick up more.
- On the Southern and Eastern train lines, four additional carriages are being brought on and five car trains will operate from the end of next month.
- On Hibiscus Coast bus routes including 893, 895 and 897 buses are reaching capacity at peak. Larger vehicles have been moved to areas of greatest need. Phase One of the Silverdale Park and Ride will be complete by the middle of the year. Increased frequency is also being considered.
- On route 881 from Long Bay to Newmarket, two additional services will be added to cope with peak hour capacity issues.
- On East Coast Bays and Sunnynook Express routes 863x and 874x and on Sandringham Road, complaints about peak hour capacity issues are being investigated in association with NZ Bus.
- On the Northern Express route peak capacity issues will be dealt with by increasing frequency and sourcing extra buses.
- On Onewa Road and on the route to Botany, extra capacity has been provided on a temporary basis while a permanent solution is investigated.
- On Mt Eden Road and Dominion Road, extras buses are being brought on to those routes to deal with capacity issues in the morning and afternoon peaks.
No room for passengers at Kingsland this week
Mayor Len Brown said he was pleased with the speed at which Auckland Transport and the operators have responded to the issue, and he encouraged people to continue to let us know when they see potential issues.”
Auckland Council transport chair, Mike Lee, says :”Aucklanders are using public transport in record numbers. It’s no longer correct to say people will only take their car to work.We need to cater for more people using buses and trains and that is why we need projects like the inner-city rail loop to increase services to the west and south, unclog our roads and deliver economic growth.”
The latest figures show that between 1996 and February 2011, bus patronage has increased by 61.2 per cent, ferry by 89.2 per cent, train by 341.5 per cent, with an overall public transport patronage increase of 79.6 per cent.
17 Comments
Double Decker buses??
I hope AT increases B-line off peak frequencies too. it not just the peak services that are crowded.
I think articulated buses/ light rail is a better option than double deckers here.
On the whole i am very impressed by this speedy response by AT. Congrats guys/girls, we know it is hard to please everybody.
Good to see some quick improvements. The 881 service only just had its frequency increased and it instantly filled up so the fact that two more buses are on it shows it must be a good route.
Good on AT and Mike Lee for getting rapid action on this on going issue.
Now, should Steven Joyce revise his PT funding cap so we can have more, much need, services? Or should all the countries funds be poured down the drain into roads of incompetence?
Excellent to see the quick response from Auckland Transport. Where did you get this info from Jon, I don’t see anything on the Auckland Transport website?
I think there needs to be some effort into looking at where to cut services to release buses for other services. I live on New North Road and I note during the morning peak it’s rare to see a bus more than half full. The issue here is that the Western Line has pretty much stole most of the New North Road bus passengers! I’m sure the schedule for the New North Road bus could be adjusted to provide less buses during the peak — the displaced buses which could then be used to strengthen other services.
Does Auckland have Bendy-Buses (articulated)
Sydney Buses has been renewing its fleet for the last 6-7 years and some of the private operators are using them too
Auckland has had Bendy-Buses since I can remember. I went to and from high school in one everyday. (And it got so full sometimes we couldn’t take anymore students.)
@paul
Auckland does have a few bendy-buses which are used on the busy routes such as the 881 in the morning which is the same bus i catch. When i get on it, at the last station, its so packed that I to stand right by the door or sometimes I have to get on at the back door.
By the way, I should mention that these buses are really old.
Auckland should buy some hydrogen buses.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/6585.aspx
I think some of the capacity issues related to the fact that why the quay street road works were on only the Northern Express was going to britomart why the rest of the north shore buses were going via hobson street. The buses have now reverted back to going via quay street, lower albert street and on to albert street.
Kiran, old is one way of putting it. The last one I saw had a registration starting with L. My first car was NZ-new, built in 1981, and its registration was KA. So the bendy buses are probably all in their 30s, maybe very late 20s at best.
“On Hibiscus Coast bus routes including 893, 895 and 897 buses are reaching capacity at peak. Larger vehicles have been moved to areas of greatest need.”
Yes that means ancient bendy-buses. They’re mostly ok at the moment but as they have no air con they’re very uncomfortable in summer and winter, and the average trip is about an hour to the Coast. Also an uncomfortable, bumpy ride.
Some extra services would be better.
However the 15:30 895 service that was added is stupid because it arrives too early in Silverdale to meet the connecting bus. Mimimum wait 10mins if all are on time, and S’dale’s not exactly the Waterfront…
Last week we waited 25mins in that dump.
I would like to chime in with Scott to say that the B-line definitely needs more off-peak services. It is very rare for there to be standing-room only when I get the Dominion Rd bus at 8-8-30 in the morning, but often the 9pm bus fills up on Queen Street and drives right by the people waiting on Symonds St. Pretty shitty when it is late and dark and cold and you just want to get home after a long day, I imagine that would put a lot of people off trying to get PT at that time of day.
Also, people getting the bus at that time of day may have been out at the pub having after work drinks, and need to have a viable alternative to driving!
And this is precisely why we need the CBD loop - because there isn’t much room for more buses on our roads. As James Pole says, when Western line trains can stop at Aotea Square and Symonds Street, what more need for buses along New North Road?
Some bus priority measures through Customs/Commerce would be nice. 10 minutes from Britomart to St Pauls on Wednesday evening (19:40 departure), seven of them just getting from QE2 Square onto Anzac Ave.
It’s completely ridiculous that it can take as long for a bus to get from Britomart to partway up Symonds St as it does for a train to get from the same starting point to Remuera station.
6 buses have been transferred from Kilbirnie to Roskill Depot today. Easy to spot as they are still in Redbus Colours…