A rather odd bus experience going on at the moment.
Usually I catch the 004/005 bus to work, but today I was already in Ponsonby for breakfast so the Link Bus was the next one into town. While I waited forever at traffic lights to cross College Hill I noticed a Link Bus sitting at its stop for a good 3-4 minutes with the driver outside having a smoke. I figured the bus must have broken down and asked him that question, although it seemed odd as people were still on the bus. He replied that they were running “early”.
Cue another couple of minutes while he finished the cigarette, before I got on the bus and we were on our way. Then we reached the usual waiting point at Victoria Park, bus driver says “three and a half minutes and we’ll be on our way” and jumps off the bus again to have another smoke. Passengers look bewildered, passengers wanting to get on the bus look even more confused when they see no driver.
Apart from the oddness of the situation, it does make me wonder how we should deal with “early buses”, especially on the Link route where they will naturally catch each other and bunch. I see the logic for sticking to timetables, but those poor passengers whose bus sat there going nowhere for around 7-8 minutes all up are hardly getting a good experience.
Ideas? Better solutions?
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I remember one time I got on the Link and went to put in my Go Rider card and the driver said, “Sorry don’t take that”, which I thought very strange both being NZ Bus so I walked… I would quite often see buses sitting outside Vic Park Market with bewildered tourists and resigned commuters on it…
I think a solution is day long priority bus lanes along the route, it should smooth the irregularities out and speed up services…
I have had my frustrations with the Link Bus during the morning commute, and is a bit of a bugbear of mine. It really exposes the tension between moving passengers swiftly and trying to maintain regular 10min frequencies in Auckland traffic. Some honesty would help – either move to a timetable they can keep, or build bus lanes along the route. Rationalising stops, esp along Victoria and Queen Streets would also help.
I have had nothing but bad experiences waiting for Link buses recently. Once at 5pm outside the TVNZ building I waited an hour then gave up and walked. Buses kept appearing on the signs, then getting DLAY designations then vanishing off the signs and never appearing. An hour at rush hour for a Link bus defeats the purpose of the service. I appreciate there have been a lot of road works lately including in Symonds St and Jervois Rd delaying traffic.
But I have given up going to Ponsonby on a Link because of the ridiculous smoko break at Vic Park. It’s quicker to walk up College Hill and I enjoy the exercise.
I have had similar problems with the orbiter service in Christchurch. I’ve waited 8 minutes on the bus before (while the driver also had a ciggie!). My bus once broke down at the university & I had to wait 40 mins for the next one despite a supposed 10 min frequency. Of course, then a whole bunch came through, but i was already late for a meeting. Maybe not having a timetable at all would help on such services? Just let them run, it would be more honest & you wouldnt have to wait awkwardly onboard for several minutes on early buses. Its not a good look.
Um… the simple solution is simply to get rid of the link and replace it with 4 routes that intersect in a cross. The central connector could be one, plus one that comes from Western Springs through K Road and down Queen Street, another one that goes up Parnell Road and meets the central connector at Newmarket and another that goes through Wynyard quarter/Viaduct and then up Ponsonby Road to Kingsland or another town centre around there. The centre of the cross is located at Britomart. There are also major junctions at the corner of K road and Ponsonby Road and at Newmarket. This has the advantage of not being a circular route and avoiding bus pile ups it also connects Western Springs to the other major tourists sites on an easy to understand network. It would require free transfers to be really effective though.
I used to use the link a lot and this was the biggest issue with it. Rather than attempt to stick to a timetable, which given the route is going to be impossible, surely the answer is to just keep circling and then when one catches another just transfer the passengers in the back bus, which then waits 10 mins before going again. The transfer would be a pain, but I’d way prefer that to the endless waits you have when a bus is running ‘early’. It’s not a perfect solution- there are going to be 20 mins gaps in places, but anyone who uses it knows this happens anyway. Large gaps and fast traveling buses are better than large gaps and slow traveling buses.
It is very tricky to manage a “circuit” bus route, if nothing else, drivers need a rest.
What would make sense is to have the Link go through bus lanes (or put bus lanes where the Link goes) and also to train the drivers that it is not necessary to drive “at” the speed limit if traffic is light but rather manage the time “in transit”. And for the drivers’ rest, stop certain services (e.g., one could finish at K-Road, or at VicPark, or Britomart, or …) or do “driver swaps” on route.
An early bus (that leaves early the stop) is even more annoying than a bus that is late and even 1 minute count … it is surprisingly long the distance one can cover in 1 minute!.
Run them 24/7, rest drivers instead of buses, have a little cafe at Vic Park Market for drivers. When a bus arrives drivers should swap so no passengers are delayed.
+1 on uroskins call.
Its what they seem to do with the trains at Flinders St Station in Melbourne. One driver hops out, another hops in and away it goes.
10 min frequency isn’t high enough for a route like this that has highly variable traffic conditions. Having a 5min frequency would really help. With integrated ticketing lots more people will be attracted to the service so shouldnt be a problem getting the patronage. Also if the service is more reliable will attract more people.
Combining this solution with arnies suggestion should help eliminate the problem.
Will be expensive in the short term but will help attract people travelling from outer parts of Auckland and are going to Ponsonby/Parnell etc so the network effect will cover the costs in the medium term.
Flinders St has much the same problems Trickster, like trains sitting at Flinders St platforms for five or even ten minutes while drivers swap over or simply just waiting there for timekeeping. Often very frustrating as Flinders St is on a CBD loop route and you can end up waiting for ages just to go one or two more stations along (not dissimilar to The Link really, stopping a minute or two away from your destination). More than once in the morning I have been at Flinders whith a train sitting empty on the platform “not taking passengers”, while they announce my train is delayed because it is ‘waiting for a clear platform”. Absolutely ludicrous.
My answer would be more bus lanes and faster boarding times. And where essential transfering passengers between buses. I don’t think a bus should ever just sit there for 5 minutes while the passengers twiddle their thumbs.
Actually, they are twiddling their thumbs, on their iPads, iPhones, iPods, iWhatevers…
admin, agreed.
Also, perhaps the drivers could have a display telling them how far in front of the next bus they are based on GPS. Then all they have to do is make sure they remain at maximum approximately 10 minutes in front, and they can ease off the gas if necessary to keep it there. It doesnt matter if they are less than 10 minutes in front, as long as there is no gap greater than 10 minutes anywhere in the chain.
Therefore no need to keep to a timetable, and if the traffic conditions are good the buses can all go a bit quicker.
Actually, there are some potential flaws with my proposal – one could imagine all the buses grinding to a halt if the drivers didn’t have a bit of common sense (which I am sure they do). You would need some sort of circuit breaker in case of breakdowns etc.
Even better would be have some sort of algorithm that takes all the GPS data – speeds, positions, breakdowns etc, and then sends signals to the drivers: Either no speed restriction or ease off the gas (or at worst stop for a minute).
@Jeremy can you not use the GoRiders on Link buses?
I use my GoRider pass on the Link all the time – stored value comes in handy.
Stupidly, I don’t think the Link accepts multi-journey 1 stage tickets, even though they’re the same price as Link rides.
@admin: It depends on the bus driver. If you don’t give specific instructions, they’ll just deduct it from your 1-stage fare.
Mind you this was a few years ago on the old Link buses (not the current new green ones).
There was one annoying instance when the bus driver was so quick on his fingers that he deducted a 2-stage fare from my GoRider before I could tell him to deduct the stored value. No refunds, of course. Grr.
FWIW, I wouldn’t take the Link unless I had to go cross-suburb eg from Ponsonby to Parnell.