'Depressing': Trains cancelled, motorway queues building as March Madness hits

Monday, 26 February 2018

Transdev managing director Michel Ladrak on the train strike at Auckland's Britomart station.

Auckland commuters are facing hour-long delays as semester one begins amid a massive rail workers' strike.

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The annual bout of road mayhem, dubbed March Madness, has jumped the gun by a few days this year, with semester one starting on Monday.

And 'industrial action' from the Rail and Maritime Trade Union, announced on Sunday, is affecting some peak train services on the southern, western, and eastern lines. The strike runs from Monday to mid-March.

The start of the university semester traditionally signals March Madness: a commuter's hell. Traffic was building in both directions on the southern motorway by 7.45am.

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The departures board at Britomart displaying details on the strike.

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Auckland Transport has increased train frequency and carrying capacity to ease disruptions to train services caused by rail workers' striking.

Britomart in the CBD was mostly empty of commuters at 8am, with long queues on motorways and on-ramps showing many travellers had chosen to take their cars instead.

One West Auckland commuter said it had taken her half an hour to travel three km down Te Atatu Rd, then an hour to get to the city.

'Mondays are usually fine, but this is depressing. I am not OK.'

The traffic had more than trebled her usual commute time of 20 minutes.

Britomart was mostly empty of commuters on Monday morning.

'I have got three minutes to get to work. I am 500 metres away. I can see it. But I will be late because traffic is crawling,' she said.

One rail commuter said the trains were 'pretty packed' and there were plenty of people standing up.

NZTA's traffic cameras showed long queues stretching back past Rosehill in south Auckland by 7am.

'I had to wait a little bit longer than usual but you just get on with it.'

Another, who got on at Swanson in West Auckland, said the services were stretched beyond capacity.

Auckland train commuter Jared Seymour with his epilepsy service dog, Bear.

'By the time we got to Avondale, our train was packed and nobody else could get on, and people were left at the platform.

'It's just really frustrating, they've got people handing out flyers and trains running less frequently but no one really knows what [the delays are] all about.'

Jared Seymour, who was travelling with his epilepsy service dog Bear, said the packed train meant that Bear was better behaved than usual because there was less space to move around.

'We got on at Henderson and by the time we got here [Britomart] we were completely packed.'

Auckland Transport (AT) said some peak services on the southern, western and eastern lines would be affected by the industrial action but all inter-peak and off-peak services would run as normal.

Auckland Transport has added 10 extra double decker buses to the fleet to help combat March Madness traffic woes.

According to Google Maps, traffic heading into the city on the northern motorway was crawling around Albany, and Papakura in the south, by 7.15am.

AT said the aim was to provide peak-time services on the southern, western, and eastern lines at 20 minute intervals, but this was 'dependent on the level of disruption caused by the industrial action'.

Six-car trains would run on as many of those services as possible.

Transdev managing director Michael Ladrak has apologised in advance to Aucklanders for the disruption, and said Transdev was working to end the industrial action as soon as possible.

'It is regrettable the RMTU has chosen the 'March Madness' period for its industrial action as it has targeted commuters and the many thousands of tertiary students returning from summer break,' he said.

Transdev's manager of people and culture, Jon Baxter, said the company had conducted some 'very constructive conversations' with the union last week.

'Good progress' was made on bargaining, so it was 'disappointing' the union had chosen industrial action, he said.

Meanwhile, ATs chief transport services officer Mark Lambert said the council-controlled organisation had a plan 'to ensure that we can cope' with the increased number of public transport users over late February and March.

'This year we have built on the work we did last March and we have at least matched last year's extra seats and in some cases added to it.

'We are confident our customers will be able to get on services but there may be some queuing, some people will have to stand and in some cases the first bus might be full.'

New bus networks in the city's south, west, and east, and an extra 2.6km of bus lanes had also been added over the past 18 months.

Auckland Transport offered some advice to beat – or at least help minimise – congestion: carpool using its Smart Travel app, cycle, or travel at a different time.

'Consider changing when you travel where possible and help spread the peak,' Lambert said.

'On some routes you can save yourself 20 minutes travel time by leaving 30 minutes later.'

Auckland Transport spokesman Mark Hannan said problem areas during March Madness tended to change year to year, partially dependent on student flatting trends.

'Two years ago it was Mt Eden Rd and Dominion Rd, they were all living there so that's what we targeted and it's sorted now,' he said.

This year services between the North Shore and CBD would be the focus for extra public transport.