Faster to walk? Council warned of bus gridlock ahead

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

Claims that it could soon be faster to walk the Golden Mile than bus are 'absurd' says Tim Brown, left, and 'fiction' according to Ray Chung, right. But Geordie Rogers, centre, says a second spine is needed.

Wellington City councillors have been given a dire warning of central city bus gridlock if they don’t create a second set of bus lanes along the harbour quays.

“The outcome [of not opening a second route] would be that by 2034 a bus trip along the Golden Mile from Courtenay Place to the Railway Station would take 28 minutes – this is longer than it would take to walk,” a briefing to the council says.

It is a claim rubbished as “absurd” by city councillor Tim Brown and “fiction” by councillor Ray Chung but others around the council table say bus demand will keep growing and action is needed.

“Wellington is a city full of bus users, and demand is growing,” said Green councillor Geordie Rogers. “If we want people to be able to take the bus in the future, we need to make sure we have enough space to run the buses.”

Without a second bus spine it will soon be faster to walk than bus the Golden Mile through central Wellington, it is claimed.

Plans for a second bus route through the central city, along the harbour quays, have been substantially scaled back after the central government declined to help fund it – despite time savings trumpeted by the Government relying on the spine. It meant what was going to be a $51 million project funded by the Government and Wellington’s city and regional councils is now a $10m project split between the two councils.

Council staff now have to come up with a preferred design and draft business case by August 7 before public consultation in October and November, with the new bus routes planned to be operational by November 2026.

The plan is for one lane in each direction of the quays becoming peak-time bus lanes. It would reduce the car lanes from three to two in peak hours in each direction with council staff warning “there will be an impact” on traffic.

Metlink group manager Samantha Gain said the Golden Mile was already congested at the current rate of 100 buses travelling each way in an hour and projections were for 135 buses an hour at peak times by 2034.

“Our modelling indicates the Golden Mile is physically limited to a maximum of 130 buses per hour. At this point buses could average 3 to 6kph at peak times, resulting in severe congestion and delays, with some peak journeys potentially taking 28 minutes to travel the 2km of the Golden Mile, making it faster for passengers to walk.”

The projections were based on a 2024 Tonkin + Taylor report.

Councillor Sarah Free didn’t know where the claim of it being faster to walk than bus came from “but I doubt anyone would let it get that bad”.

Councillor Iona Pannett, a supporter of the second bus route, said it reinforced the need to keep the City to Sea Bridge. Removal of the bridge would create another pedestrian crossing, slowing buses along the route, she said.

Councillor Diane Calvert said the figures needed more analysis.

“On one hand they were telling us that the Harbour Quays route would save five to six minutes on the journey time but had not factored that it would take people walking to the bus an extra five to 10 minutes to walk to the quays.”

Councillor Tony Randle said the quays route was only needed because the planned Golden Mile changes would slow buses on that route. It was a claim rubbished by regional council transport committee head Thomas Nash, who said the planned Golden Mile changes “straightforwardly don’t” slow buses.