There are some interesting bits and pieces in Auckland City Council’s recent Transport Committee meeting agenda. I moaned about the loss of the Tamaki Drive bus lane (and, more particularly $350,000 of precious public transport funding) the other day, which was debated at that meeting, but there is actually a bit more in relation to establishing “Managed Lanes” throughout Auckland City.
Now, it seems like a Managed Lane is one where council manages the types of vehicles or number of occupants in a vehicle that can use that particular lane. Bus lanes are the most obvious, but it also includes transit lanes (which allow cars with 2 or more occupants or sometimes 3 or more occupants in them) and freight lanes. Whilst I don’t support turning the Tamaki Drive bus lane into a Managed Lane, I certainly do support the establishment of Managed Lanes out of general traffic lanes. Increasing vehicle occupancy is certainly one way of increasing the capacity of a certain route without having to widen it for more cars. This certainly works for Onewa Road in North Shore City:
Importantly, the Auckland City Council report says that Managed Lanes other than bus lanes are only likely to be viable in the long term on routes that do not have high-frequency bus services. Hopefully this means that they’re heading towards a situation where most if not all high-frequency bus routes have bus lanes along them. I’ve said a few times before that improving bus travel times is one of the best ways Auckland could improve its public transport system – and to do that it needs many many more bus lanes and smart-card ticketing.
But anyway, the introduction of Managed Lanes on currently congested roads I think is a good idea. Auckland City has proposed Neilson Street, Church Street, Patiki Road and parts of the Southeastern Highway as potentially suitable for having Managed Lanes – I think largely areas with high freight traffic and that feed into ramp signals with Managed Lane priorities already. At first look this is a bit of a disappointing list, but then that’s largely because it’s just Auckland City Council making these proposals. I think that having a T2 managed lane (a lane for vehicles with 2 or more occupants) on most of Auckland’s motorways would be a fantastic way to improve the people-moving capacity of these routes at peak hour. Off-peak, perhaps the T2 lane could become a freight only lane.
This is a step in the right direction generally – just as long as no more bus lanes are sacrificed! Auckland desperately needs more bus lanes, not less.
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