Auckland Transport spends $2.6 million to monitor transit lane with 99pc compliance

Wednesday, 22 December 2021

Onewa Rd is infamous for being congested during peak times, as the main route between Birkenhead, Glenfield, Northcote and Beach Haven and the northern motorway. (File photo)

Auckland Transport has been criticised for spending $2.6 million on cameras to stop people illegally using a transit lane that already had 99 per cent compliance.

Onewa Rd is a sore point for North Shore motorists, who often find themselves crawling along the main route out of Birkenhead, Beach Haven, Glenfield and Northcote to the northern motorway (SH1) during peak times.

The road has 17 transit zones – nine towards the city and eight towards Birkenhead – which can only be used by cars with three or more passengers between 6.30am-10am and 4pm-6pm, Monday to Friday.

In March, Auckland Transport shared its plans to instal 68 cameras along the 2.3km road, to save its staff from having to manually enforce compliance with a camera on the side of the road, which put them at risk of being abused by angry motorists.

* Transport figures show Onewa Rd transit lane users in the majority

On-site monitoring of the T3 lane put staff at risk of abuse by upset members of the public, Auckland Transport said in March.

* AT proceeds with Onewa Rd T3 extended hours, despite local board opposition

The cameras are now in place and Auckland Transport has revealed the project cost a total of $2.6 million, including the planning, construction and implementation of the cameras.

Any cars with fewer than three occupants will be snapped and given a $150 fine.

Auckland Transport said thousands of motorists wrongly used the lane each month, and the cameras made its monitoring more efficient.

But Kaipātiki Local Board member Paula Gillon, who asked for the project cost under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA), said it was an “extraordinary” amount of money to spend on a road where the transit lane rules were adhered to by motorists 99 per cent of the time.

While it was likely the cameras would stop people from illegally using the transit lanes, Gillon believed congestion would get worse in the normal lane, as Auckland Transport had not put forward any alternative solutions.

The ratepayer money should have been used on seeking transport options to get people to where they needed to be on time, so they wouldn’t feel they had to illegally use the T3 lanes, she said.

Gillon thought people were choosing their own cars over public transport because Birkenhead’s bus services weren’t going to where they wanted to go, for example, beyond the CBD or the North Shore.

“We actually need to look at why people aren’t taking the buses in the first place,” she said, adding that motorists should not be punished for wanting to get to work on time.

An Auckland Transport spokeswoman said Auckland Transport was reviewing the way it manages all the region’s special vehicle lanes.

“We are now well beyond being able to manage the network with manual labour for capturing and processing,” she said. “Technology will only ever increase levels of efficiency and we endeavour to have all the network operating as freely as possible.”

The job involved officers travelling to and from the transit zones – adding to congestion themselves – and collecting and reviewing the footage.

The process also meant Auckland Transport was adding to emissions, which the Government aims to reduce by 50 per cent by 2030.

The Auckland Transport spokeswoman added that it took nine officers to monitor each of Onewa Rd’s transit zones during peak times.

While 99 per cent compliance seemed impressive, there were still up to 5000 motorists wrongly using the transit lane each month, with “does slow the network a lot”, she said.

Auckland Transport does not know how much money the cameras will yield annually.