'It was a bad start': Decision-makers look back on a troubled year for Wellington's buses
Tuesday, 16 July 2019
Wellington's bus changeover a year ago seemed fine in theory but the rollout proved chaotic. We spoke to three decision-makers about what went wrong and what they think needs to be done to keep improving the region's bus network.
Greg Pollock, Greater Wellington Regional Council general manager of public transport
Greg Pollock was not in the hot seat when Wellington's bus network was rolled out, but he sure is in the hot seat now.
As we caught up with him on a Friday afternoon at regional council HQ, Pollock was positive about what lay ahead.
But he admitted, having come into the role earlier this year, that things could have been done better.
Primarily, the council bit off more than it could chew, Pollock said.
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'I'd say if you think back 12 months ago, Wellington needed an ambitious plan to get public transport ready for the growth it was experiencing and to meet modern day demands.
'In hindsight, there were probably too many things being put in place at the same time.'
Those things included an entirely revamped network, new fares, new bus operators contracts, and a universal Snapper card system.
The much-maligned 'hub' system, which required some commuters to transfer buses where they previously did not need to, was clearly unpopular, Pollock said.
But it had merit, if only buses ran on time.
'Was it the right thing to do? Yes, I think it was.
'In some of the outer suburbs, people previously had to come into the city and catch a bus from there if they wanted to go to another outer suburb.
'For example, if you wanted to go from Miramar to Island Bay, you'd have to go into the city, and then pay another fare.
'So you had to travel further, and pay twice as much [transfers are now free within 30 minutes]. Now people can get around the city more readily.'
Fine in theory, but only if buses are on time. At the moment, that is still not the case, although things are getting better.
Pollock also acknowledged hubs had failed some commuters.
'Do people like transferring for trips into the city? No, they don't.
'But in practise, most people don't have to transfer - that's usually only the case in the off-peak.'
That's not to say there is not room for improvement, and the ongoing suburb-by-suburb review would help to address that, Pollock said.
'We need to ask if it's working for people, or if we need to do some things differently.
'I suspect the answer is we need to do things differently, but we don't want to do that without talking to the communities first.'
Barbara Donaldson, Greater Wellington Regional Council sustainable transport committee chairperson
After initially claiming 'teething problems' were to blame for the bus debacle, Barbara Donaldson now agrees with the public: things could have been done better.
Donaldson, who represents the regional council's Porirua-Tawa constituency, faced criticism for not fronting the issue when it came to a head, after failing to show up to several public meetings to discuss the new network.
Upon reflection, Donaldson told Stuff things had gone badly, and things are still far from perfect.
'It was a bad start. We tried to do too much all at once. New routes, new operators, new drivers, new fares.
'Performance wasn't good at the beginning, but it's improved considerably.'
The new drivers were the result of the changeover in operator contracts which happened at the same time as the network overhaul.
The council is still facing fierce criticism for not retaining drivers' terms and conditions during the changeover, which led to many leaving the profession or retiring.
An ensuing driver shortage meant many had to be recruited at the last minute from outside of Wellington, with various instances of drivers taking the wrong route.
But Donaldson said the main problem had been the community consultation which helped form the final network design.
'I think the main thing we should have done was redo the consultation, and involve the communities.
'All that consultation on bus routes had been done a number of years prior - before 2014.
'I think that would have been the main thing that would have made the difference.
'People say, 'Why did you need to change it?'. So they don't remember the problems we were having with capacity before this.'
'I think if we could have delayed that, things would have gone more smoothly.'
While many had been disadvantaged, other areas had benefited from extra or new services, Donaldson said.
'There were people who were very upset. But we had a limited budget, and we had to remove some services to put them on in other places.
'Those people are going to be annoyed if their bus services disappears, but those people who got more services are extremely happy.'
When asked if the number of changes made to the network since July reflected how badly the council got things wrong, Donaldson said it didn't.
'You can't test a new network without operating it.'
Wellington Mayor Justin Lester - bus failures 'the biggest and most pressing issue' of his Mayoralty.
During Justin Lester's time as mayor there's been an earthquake, construction blow-outs have added millions to the city's bills, insurance premiums have soared, the city's civic precinct has emptied out, he's endured a fight over central city parking and gone head-to-head with Peter Jackson, but in terms of headaches the bus network redesign has been the biggest of them all.
'The biggest issue and the most pressing issue, for me, for the city, has been buses and the irony there is I have no direct control of the operations or the governance.'
Lester said Wellington City Council raised concerns about the network changes a year before they took place and Greater Wellington Regional Council assured them it was all on-track.
But three months before the changes came into force GWRC changed their tune, he said.
'It became apparent that they couldn't give a strong commitment that things would be okay.'
Lester said he 'wasn't satisfied' with the way GWRC had dealt with the crisis.
Since then at a select committee hearing and at their own meetings GWRC have thrown blame back at WCC for not approving the bus priority routes and bus hubs needed to make the new design work.
In an interview with Stuff a year ago one of the original designers of the network, Jarrett Walker, said bus hubs were important to a network redesign of this type where high frequency bus lines were designed to intersect each other at 'interchanges'.
Lester calls both claims 'a complete red herring'.
'That doesn't explain why overnight you went from a functioning bus service with business as usual never any concerns or complaints to wholesale change on the network and suddenly bus priority being responsible.'
Wellington City Council received requests for bus hubs in October and GWRC were told by WCC there wasn't enough time to approve them, he said.
He blames a lack of drivers and buses for the crisis, something WCC has no control over.
'Many people had to hub and buses weren't there to meet them.'
GWRC's management of the bus network is one of the reasons he believes Wellington City Council should have a greater say over how the buses are run.
He's now calling for a new dedicated Regional Transport Authority to take the whole region's transport network out of GWRC's hands.
'It's taken too long to get it right.'