Longer hours of operation for Onewa T3 lanes deemed 'completely unnecessary'

Friday, 10 November 2017

Extending the hours of operation of transit lanes on Auckland's congested Onewa Rd will lead to more misery for commuters and impact on businesses, according to disenchanted residents.

Next year, the Onewa Rd T3 lane will be in operation from Monday to Friday from 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm. These times extend the T3 times by an hour during morning and evening peaks.

Transit lane hours will be modified across Auckland to improve the efficiency of public transport, Auckland Transport (AT) said, and to enable more frequent bus services.

Birkenhead resident and and commuter Jennifer Edwards said the changes to Onewa Rd T3 hours are 'completely unnecessary'.

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'A reasonable compromise to speed up bus transit times and allow drivers to share the lane would be to make the extra two hours no parking rather than T3,' Edwards said.

'For those of us poor souls who have to deal with that nightmare road, we are already living our lives around the T3 hours as it is, trapped in our suburbs for a big chunk of the day.'

AT said the extension of T3 lane hours on Onewa Rd 'offers the best option for progressing the growth in patronage'.

Another regular commuter on Onewa Rd said extending the T3 finish time to 10am would have a 'negligible effect' on the travel times for people car-pooling or catching the bus, as they are not currently delayed.

'However, it will force many of the flexitime workers to travel earlier. This will have the effect of compressing the peak travel down Onewa and aggravating the already severe congestion,' she said.

Edwards has questioned why AT does not have an alternative solution or did not consult the community on the changes.

'Anyone who has actually used Onewa Rd [outside of the T3 hours] will know that, if the two lanes are shared by buses and cars, with no parking allowed, that the traffic flows nicely and buses are not held up at those particular times. This decision means that one lane will now be largely empty, at the very least underutilised, while the other lane has a long queue.

'I cannot understand how a decision that will impact the productivity of many businesses and make the lives of many locals a complete misery can be taken without any consultation or rational reasoning.'

In a response to Edwards' queries about the process behind making the changes, AT wrote: 'An internal consultation was carried out with the Parking Design team and Parking Enforcement by email from 28 July to 11 August 2017. The proposal was supported by both parties. No consultation is required for this programme of works with the public, local boards or AT internal departments.'