Businesses, students to benefit from new bus station on Auckland's Northern Busway

Friday, 8 December 2017

An artist's impression of the Rosedale bus station on the extended Northern Busway.

Plans have been released for a 'transformative' $70 million bus station to cater for one of Auckland's biggest growth areas.

The proposed Rosedale bus station, on the extended Northern Busway, would be open by 2021 and was expected to cater for around 4000 passengers a day.

The Rosedale bus station on Auckland's Northern Busway will be at 9 Arrenway Drive. The site is currently occupied by Turners Auctions.

The area it would be in, Upper Harbour, was forecast to take the most growth, in percentage terms, in Auckland in the next 10 years.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff said Rosedale would be an additional destination station for people to travel around the North Shore and into the city centre, and supported all of the economic and social improvements that came with making travel easier and decreasing congestion.

The Rosedale bus station is a joint project between the government and Auckland Council.

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The planned station, at 9 Arrenway Drive - which was currently occupied by the Turners car auctions site, was subject to property acquisition.

Upper Harbour Local Board chairwoman Lisa Whyte said the position of the new bus station would cater for local businesses, Rangitoto College students, as well as users of AUT Millennium sports centre.

'Limited options exist currently for public transport for employees. So this is going to provide an enormous benefit to employees and to their employers, because it is a little bit too far to walk from Albany and it is a little bit far too walk from Constellation [bus stations], and this is going to provide people more choice.

'I am proud to be a part of this project and the wider Northern Corridor project, because that is going to be transformative for Upper Harbour and the wider North Shore community.'

Business North Harbour covered the area in which the new station would be situated and was the biggest commercial Business Improvement District (BID) in New Zealand.

According to Auckland Transport, approximately 5200 jobs would be located within an 800m walk of the new station. An additional 14,000 residents and 12,000 jobs would be located within a 10-minute feeder bus trip and another 10,000 residents and 3000 jobs would be within a 15 to 20-minute trip.

The station design was for platforms spanning across Rosedale Rd to allow for transfers from local bus stops.

The Rosedale station is part of the NZ Transport Agency's Northern Corridor Improvements (NCI) project which included a new motorway connection between SH1 and SH18, the extension of the Northern Busway up to Albany, and new shared walking and cycling paths and connections.

Construction was due to start in the middle of 2019, with the station opening in 2021.

AT's chief infrastructure officer Greg Edmonds said plans for a park and ride were included in the initial investigation, but Auckland Transport has decided against that.

'There is a need for additional park and ride facilities. They generally help with congestion but one at Rosedale would actually increase congestion on local roads and would be less cost-effective than sites like Albany or Silverdale.'

AT was seeking funding for a 500-bay multi-storey car park in Albany to add to the existing park and ride.

Public feedback on the Rosedale bus station project would be on AT's website between January 29 and March 2, 2018.