Auckland Transport assesses bus changes after commuter chaos hits Auckland's North Shore

Monday, 1 October 2018

Buses queue up on Auckland's North Shore after new routes and timetables were introduced.

Auckland Transport officials will be assessing its new North Shore bus network after 'utter chaos' hit commuters at Constellation Drive on Monday evening.

Bus passengers reported they were stuck in gridlock for up to 15 minutes as queues of buses waited to get onto the North Shore busway around 6pm.

Auckland Transport introduced the bus schedules and network at the weekend in the hope of making getting to and from the city simpler and more consistent.

The plan was to have buses, including a second Northern Express, take commuters from Northern Busway stations to Wellesley Street and surrounding universities every five minutes at peak times, and every 10 to 15 minutes at all other times - but on Monday it seems this wasn't the case.

*Changes confirmed for underperforming Chch bus routes

*North Shore bus route changes aim to meet increased demand, plus make way for light rail**

Commuter Tim Layt said it was 'utter chaos'

It 'took too long to get through the centre and getting out onto Fanshaw was a joke (and it's school holidays)', he tweeted.

@NickRH14 @AklTransport Utter chaos at Constellation this evening. Morning was fine. #NEX2 was good into town. Terrible on the way out. Took too long to get through the centre and getting out onto Fanshaw was a joke (and it's school holidays) 😁 pic.twitter.com/epKOCG7iyz

— Tim Layt (@TimMothLayt) October 1, 2018

Traveller Justine Finlay described the evening as a 'disaster' and said she hopes it is sorted before tomorrow evening.

Wow @AklTransport what a disaster the new north shore bus system is! Constellation is gridlocked! I hope you will have this sorted out before tomorrow evenings commute! Lots of people in orange vests but not a lot of action!!

— Justine Finlay (@JFinlayNZ) October 1, 2018

Auckland Transport spokesperson Mark Hannan said the organisation would review the timetables first thing on Tuesday to see if they could spread out the arrival times of buses to avoid them bunching.

'There are many more buses operating now so we will look at ways of improving the operation,' Hannan said.

'There are buses leaving the city centre around every minute so even if we change the schedules there will still be plenty of capacity.'

Auckland Transport's James Ireland said Monday was the first weekday the drivers had been out on the new routes outside of training, which meant it may take a day or two for everyone to get used to it.

'We thank passengers for their patience,' he added.