The Airport Flyer, the bus that does not always turn up

Sunday, 17 November 2019

There are calls to overhaul Lower Hutt's Airport Flyer.

Susan Scott has stopped catching the Airport Flyer, after being forced to make a barefoot dash to catch a train and then her flight.

A user of the service for six years, she recently wrote to NZ Bus outlining her frustration.

'With regards to future travel on the Airport Flyer, I won't be risking it. I will take my car and pay. Another car on the road and less patronage of public transport.'

Chief commercial officer Scott Thorne said NZ Bus was focusing on hiring more drivers and was committed to improving the performance of the Flyer.

**READ MORE:

The Airport Flyer is proving unreliable, forcing some people to take taxis to catch their flights.

* Call to overhaul 'embarrassing' Airport Flyer

* Airport asked to drop toll for airport bus

* Airport Flyer could be scrapped**

It was talking to the regional council and Wellington Airport to reinvigorate the service and return to using the Real Time information and Snapper ticketing systems.

Hutt South MP Chris Bishop is running a petition to Fix the Flyer.

'We are working closely with both parties and are hopeful of positive outcomes from these discussions.'

Hutt South MP Chris Bishop said the service needed an urgent overhaul and he had started an online petition and was running a campaign, Fix the Flyer, to get the service taken over by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

BIshop said he heard stories like Scott's all the time, including someone paying $100 for a taxi, and he was appalled that such an important part of the public transport network was so unreliable.

Council chair Daran Ponter said he understood the frustration over the service but said it was a commercial contract between Wellington Airport and NZ Bus.

The rules did not allow the regional council to subsidise a service, if there was an existing commercial operation.

The contract is due for renewal next year but he said the regional council would not take it over.

He was, however, keen to see the service improved. The Flyer did not appear on the Real Time system that tells commuters when a bus will arrive and he said that needed to change.

Wellington Airport spokesperson Greg Thomas agreed the service could be better.

'We know how important a reliable Airport Flyer is for travellers to and from the airport and we understand why passengers are frustrated with the quality of service.

'NZ Bus are aware of our expectation that they deliver a reliable service for travellers and we've had discussions on how to improve this.'

That will not, however, get Scott to use the Flyer again. Her nightmare began when she tried to catch a 9am flight.

She decided to 'risk' catching the Flyer from Queensgate and left home at 6.40am.

'I waited and waited at Queensgate - of course now the Airport Flyer is no longer allowed to be displayed on the timetable displays (what a ridiculous and uncooperative decision that is) - the bus never arrived.'

She made a panicked phone call and was told the driver was not working that day and her best bet was a taxi.

'I took my shoes off and ran all the way back to my car in Woburn, jumped in and raced up Knight's Road, parked, jumped out of the car still in bare feet and ran all the way through the Waterloo underground, up the other side and waited six minutes for a train.'

She rang for a taxi to meet her at Wellington Station and made her flight but said she would never use the Flyer again.