An interesting video taken of the queue of people waiting to board Northern Express buses around Britomart this evening:
I did a post on this issue a while back – and it seems things have become even more serious since that time. What I think the Northern Express desperately needs is a set aside “fare paid zone” where people tag in at various gates to the zone (or before we have integrated ticketing, we could have people at machines at the gates). Then they’re within the fare paid zone and when the bus pulls in they can pile onto it at both the front and rear doors. Something like the diagram below:
The Northern Express is a massive success – clearly illustrated by the video above. Let’s not put that success at risk by having such slow boarding.
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Maybe everyone can start submitting their videos – I sense that the PT network is really overloaded at the moment, it would be great to see what is happening elsewhere on the network.
On the NEX, they do have a guy with a ticket machine off bus, but it certainly isn’t as organised as what you are suggesting Josh. I took that video today and it also looked like there was a shortage of buses contributing to the problem.
Yeah something really needs to be done, there are always queues there and if I was catching it I would get pretty pissed off. Also I have noticed that buses tend to leave without being full, I don’t know if this is to keep to a timetable or they just don’t want people standing but it seems like a waste.
All-door boarding and off-bus ticketing are excellent ideas, and not just for the Northern Express – and you don’t need to take up footpath space with paid zones for them to work. All you need is random plain-clothes ticket inspection, with penalties large enough for people not to take the risk. Such an approach works well in Europe, so why not here?
@Mike – I totally agree that all door loading combined with random ticket checks is the superior solution and works well in Germany and Switzerland which have much higher loadings at pretty much all tram/bus stops in the city. An issue is that apparently (jarbury posted this once) NZ law doesn’t allow people riding without paying to be fined. The planned integrated ticket being rolled out soon will require people to tag on, which while preferable to what Auckland has still leads to long dwell times – comparing the system in Switzerland where people just boarded the tram to the system in Boston where people have to tag on to get on the tram, really shows how slow the latter is. I think the difference is that the system in Boston and Auckland are obsessed with profits and making it ‘pay its way’, Switzerland sees PT as a right IMO and the whole system is developed to make using a tram as easy and simple as possible, and it shows.
“NZ law doesn’t allow people riding without paying to be fined”. Is that really the case? that is unbelievable! does that apply to the trains also? Given that you can board a train before paying, does that mean that thoretcially you can refuse to pay knowing you cannot get fined?
Yet another example of our complete lack of grasp of good PT.
I agree with previous comments, we have to elevate our bus system to be more rapid, which has to include things like pre-paying / validating / multiple door boarding…but we are about 30 years behind.
My understanding is if you refuse to pay on an auckland train all the staff can do is kick you off at the next station and issue you a trespass notice (I doubt they do this bit much).
One minor problem with that. There is currently nowhere to buy a ticket except from the driver!
I suspect one of the reasons for compulsory tag on – tag off will be that the passenger data will form the basis for the operators claims for reimbursement from the general pool of integrated ticket revenue. This is probably also the reason why we have to wait for a smart card system before we get integrated ticketing.
There is already some integrated fares in Auckland, the Northern Pass for example. You show it to the driver and they log it by pushing a button on their console. If that is to hard, they could make a tally mark on a piece of paper.
Ok I’m being a bit facetious here but thinking we need an electronic smartcard system before we can consider reorganising the fare structure is real cart before the horse stuff.
Yes but the issue is about trust between operators. The operators will want some assurance that others aren’t ‘overcounting’. The Northern Pass has far fewer operators and I imagine it is only the NEX buses where the majority of the revenue will be via the Northern Pass. I use it on Birkenhead Buses, but most people have the 10 clip ticket.
Alternatively, extend the Northern Express up the Central Connector and stop trying to cram the majority of people on at one stop.
This makes sense as it will provide access to the uni, Grafton and Newmarket. All of which are important destinations
those people look like sitting ducks for someone with a petition to extend the Busway to Albany/build more carparks/better feeder buses….
At the very least the queue could use a waist-high rail that doubles back on itself once or twice, to corral the queue and reduce its footprint on the surrounding area.
I used the NEX for the first time ever about two weeks ago, and found the boarding at Britomart to be a cumbersome process. There were about 60 people waiting, and about 50 seats on the bus. After 25 people had boarded, the driver closed the door and departed with only half the seats occupied. Apparently they do this in order to keep seats free for passengers boarding around the Victoria Park area. So the 35 odd people left at Britomart had to wait for the next two buses. With one bus every five minutes, and limited to 25 people ex Britomart, I can see why so many people end up with a 20 minute wait while watching bus after bus depart without them.
What they need is a bus every two minutes, or convert the busway to light rail.
Or run some NEX buses just from the Victoria Park area. In the mornings that would mean some buses whose final destination sb would be the Victoria Park area; which would relieve some of the pressure at the Britomart stop.
Still thinking about it … keeping a couple of non-timetabled “overload” buses on standby, once they realised that the queues were building, would also work.
I often have this with my (very long distance) coach commute, where it is very annoying that the operator doesn’t keep a coach in reserve to take the edge off the queues
@Ross – this reminds me of how the greyhounds operare in the US, you buy a ticket for a specific time (or so you think) but then it turns out the buses are all just first come first serve, i.e. once the bus is full you have to wait for the next one. The way the NEXs apppear to be operating is similar, either you waiting 30mins before you want to catch you bus to make sure you’re at the front of the queue or you end up missing the bus you want. They seriously need to deal with this ASAP.
They really need to consider having some other main routes that use the busway. Get some proper routes that take people to their home suburb via the busway, and not just as one or two peak expresses.
and despite these huge queues they NZTA are still planning on force the council to make the buslanes T3 once the VPT opens – craziness.
This is exactly why I don’t consider the NEX to be a true rapid transit system. The boarding times are too slow. If anything this is like an enhanced QTN.
Jesus, I’ve never seen a queue that long for a BUS! I’m glad its so popular but someone has to do something about it. It’s unacceptable really.
I am a daily commuter on the NEX and the problem is because of the number of (new?) university students catching buses in March. These are some of my observations;
1. NEX commuters tend to refrain from boarding once they see the seats on the buses are 90% occupied. They will rather wait for the next bus. This happens daily in the morning at Albany Station as well as Downtown. This is not bad because it will allow passengers to board at Constellation and Sunnynook (and Victoria Park in the evening).
2. NEX congestions in the evening are partly attributed to the late arrival of buses held up by the traffic at Customs Street. Sometime you will see a gap of 10 to 20 minutes at peak time in the evening then two buses will arrive at the same time.
Having said that, because of the March madness, I have noticed passengers are now willing to stand on the buses again. I believe once the university students settle into their schedule we will be back to the usual again.
Still I would like to see the NEX frequency increase from 5 minutes to 3 minutes during peak hours.
“Passengers ‘face to armpit’
Jason writes: “I find myself arriving ever earlier to the Constellation park and ride (just to fight it out over the last parking spot), only to then be greeted by a line of equally frustrated ‘passengers’ standing in a queue longer than those experienced outside Studio 54 at the height of its infamy. Once on the bus, if in fact you get on the first or second one that comes along, you are squeezed, face to armpit, on to the most uncomfortable journey imaginable. But at least I get on … spare a thought for those poor souls at Sunnynook, Smales or Takapuna, who watch overcrowded bus after overcrowded bus trundle by groaning under the weight of all those commuters. In a World Cup year, you have to ask yourself … how will Auckland cope? Right now, it’s not.”
Quote from Sideswipe today. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sideswipe/news/article.cfm?c_id=702&objectid=10712417
Can someone please forward that to The Hon. Stephen Joyce next time he talks about how ‘realistically’ Aucklanders chose to drive, and how ‘buses need roads too’.
Yesterday i walked past the northern express stop at britomart and saw people boarding the bus from both doors. At the back door, there was a person standing with a mobile ticket machine which people could just scan their cards and board the bus.
They have been doing this for a long time but it still doesn’t help the queue during the peak time