Team responsible for launching Wellington's new bus network not up to the job - report
Wednesday, 19 December 2018
The team responsible for rolling out Wellington's controversial new bus network was not cut out for the job, an independent review has found.
The new network was launched across Wellington City in July, and caused a number of problems including lateness, overcrowding, driver shortages, and faulty real-time information boards.
Greater Wellington Regional Council, which is responsible for the new network, commissioned an independent review earlier this year in an effort to find out what it could have done better.
The report, compiled by Australian-based company LEK Consulting, was released on Wednesday.
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It found the public transport team in charge of the rollout was not equipped for the job, while councillors had underestimated the impact of the changes.
'The collective capability of the public transport team and dedicated programme team was insufficient for the transformational nature of the changes required,' the report said.
'The programme team was proactive in identifying capability gaps, although this was often later than required.'
The report found the councillors who signed off the changes did not have sufficient information to make the right decisions.
The councillors 'did not fully appreciate programme risks' because the information they were working with was at an 'aggregate' level, rather than a local level, it said.
The council also failed to provide realistic expectations for commuters, despite being aware of the significant risks.
While new routes, timetables, and fares were delivered on time, several other aspects such as bus hubs, adequately trained drivers, and sufficient bus fleets were delayed.
That was because the new network was not phased in, there was a lack of route testing, and the council did not have enough information from bus operators, the report said.
The process for awarding operator contracts also failed to identify some of these 'major challenges'.
However, some operators were not providing accurate information to the council, and some factors were outside of its control, the report said.
While the council offered to help bus companies, some of them did not accept that help.
In a statement, the regional council acknowledged the report's conclusion that its public transport team has fallen short of the mark.
However, it also noted the report said the council had a robust governance structure in place, and several elements of the new network were delivered on time.
It also said it had relied on bus operators to be 'forthcoming, timely, and transparent about their true state of readiness'.
Council chairman Chris Laidlaw said in a statement progress was already well underway to fix the problems outlined.
That work included analysing available data, working more closely with operators, and continuing to consult with community groups.
'Since July, we have been listening and working closely with community groups and operators to increase services, adjust timetables, ensure the right size bus turns up, and provide better data and information to the public, and put things right.'
For several months, operator NZ Bus was using buses which were too small on some routes.
The report acknowledged that lateness, reliability, and correct bus size had improved significantly since July, Laidlaw said.