Greater Wellington Regional Council confirms urgent review into bus debacle

Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Wellington's under-fire bus system, only two months old, will be subject to an independent review in an effort to resolve ongoing problems.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chief executive Greg Campbell recently said a review was being considered to work out what was going wrong with the new network.

Councillors agreed on Wednesday to commission that review 'urgently'.

The decision came as the council's sustainable transport committee agreed to further concessions in the face of public pressure, voting to extend the No.14 service from Hataitai further east to Kilbirnie, and extend the 18e bus between Miramar and Karori until 8pm.

**READ MORE:

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* Parliamentary briefing into bus debacle

* Minister's concerns about new system

* Boss fixing bus fiasco to keep second job**

The committee had already agreed to reinstate the off-peak service from north Miramar to Karori, which included a stop at Wellington Regional Hospital in Newtown.

The decision to order a review was one of a number of recommendations passed by the committee to improve the struggling network, which was launched in July.

Since then, buses in Wellington have become increasingly unreliable because of lateness and overcrowding, and commuters in several suburbs have asked for old routes which were taken away to be reinstated.

There have also been problems with new bus hubs - places where commuters need to transfer from 'feeder' buses to core routes.

The committee faced a barrage of public criticism at Wednesday's meeting, with Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff particularly aggressive.

Wagstaff was referring to the ongoing dispute between the Tramways Union and one of the region's bus operators, Tranzit, which took over 60 per cent of Wellington services in July.

He said he had addressed the committee so many times on the importance of protecting drivers' terms and conditions that it appeared the committee was 'impenetrable'.

He warned the problems with the new network would not be resolved until that dispute was settled.

'This problem you find yourselves in now cannot be addressed until you confront the issues affecting the bus drivers.

'I can't put it simpler than that.'

Councillor Ken Laban snapped back and said the dispute process had been a 'farce' because Tranzit was not interested in negotiating with the union.

'We all know what the issue is - they won't negotiate. They need to get their arse in the room.'

But Wagstaff said the council had the power to force those negotiations forward, namely by appointing a facilitator to help settle the dispute.

The No.14 service from Wilton to Hataitai via the central city was also a hot topic. 

Submitters said that while patronage data showed most people travelling between Hataitai and the eastern suburbs only had to take one bus - there are other services which access Kilbirnie - those figures did not take into account people who had stopped using the bus.

St Patrick's College rector Neal Swindells said students at the Kilbirnie school had also been affected by the removal of some school services to the suburb.

The school had delayed its start time by 10 minutes to accommodate lateness, and on Monday 85 students were late to school.

SOME OF THE PROPOSALS

• More priority bus lanes, and bus priority at traffic lights on core routes

• Direct off-peak services from Strathmore Park and Miramar North to central city

• Peak-time services between Mornington/Vogeltown and Golden Mile

• Route changes in Churton Park

• Joining bus numbers 12, 20 and 21, and/or 20 and 21, and/or 12 and 14

• Off-peak service between Houghton Bay and Wellington Zoo

• Ensure wait times at hubs no longer than five minutes