Faster bus trips possible if Auckland motorway bus lanes are OK'd

Wednesday, 12 December 2018

Buses regularly get stuck in traffic on motorway sections, such as this view from the Westgate on ramp.

Continuous bus lanes could be built and upgraded along Auckland's motorways to speed up long distance commuter bus services.

Transport agency NZTA said some of the new sections could take as little as six to nine months to develop, if a study underway proved they were feasible.

The idea would see more motorway shoulders opened up for bus use - only some sections are presently designated for use by commuter buses.

NZTA has been keeping a low profile on the idea, taking two months to release to Stuff a study of the possible upgrades.

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A transport advocate has given the proposed work a thumbs-up but questioned why it had taken so long.

The red arrows show proposed bus lane extensions around Patiki Road on the northwestern motorway.

'It's good that they're looking at it but it also highlights how siloed transport thinking has been,' said Matt Lowrie, an editor at the website greaterauckland.org.nz.

'Many of these motorways have had major works in the last 10-15 years and the changes needed could have easily been added at the time,' Lowrie told Stuff.

NZTA has been criticised in the past by Auckland politicians for not providing a dedicated busway in the major upgrade of the northwestern motorway which is nearing completion.

The northwest is one of Auckland major growth centres, but it has no rapid transit links and it only has unconnected sections of shoulder bus lanes along SH16.

While the shoulder space is continuous, NZTA hasn't allowed buses to use the sections around interchanges or overbridges, although some drivers still do.

NZTA has had studies done on bus priority along the northwestern SH16 reaching back more than eight years, but flicked the switch only mid-year on this latest, wider work.

The council agency Auckland Transport had pushed for development of the shoulder lanes to enable shorter and more reliable trips for its bus services. NZTA appears to be won over.

'This step change in managing motorway space will strongly communicate the customer- based approach adopted by the NZTA and AT in a highly visible fashion,' said the study.

The agency is weighing up upgrades on 19 short stretches of SH1, SH16 and SH20, with a trial section nearing completion on the northern side of Auckland Harbour Bridge.

That portion of SH1 carries 130 buses an hour on general traffic lanes during the peak, before they reach the southern end of the dedicated northern busway.

The programme, if it goes ahead, is largely a stop gap, especially on the northwestern motorway, where the government is committed long-term to building light rail.

The motorway carries up to 22 buses an hour, weaving in and out of a piecemeal series of shoulder bus lane sections.

The five areas easiest to build, and with the most bus traffic, are the city-bound section of SH16 leading to the Great North Road off-ramp, the westbound section, between St Lukes and Great North Roads from the southwestern motorway and Landing Drive on SH20A, and around the Onewa Road and Stafford Road ramps near Auckland Harbour Bridge.