Auckland Transport have today released the final version of the bus changes to many central buses that was consulted on a few months back. Here’s the final version (click here for a PDF version):
Below we have the original version that was put out for consultation:
There seem to be a number of changes:
- The Link and the Outer Loop (called the Inner and Outer Link in the new system respectively) have swapped their path through the northern part of the city centre. This has the result of the Inner Link now serving Britomart, but not the University; while the Outer Link no longer serves Britomart, but does serve the University. I think this is a good change, as it brings a lot of people along that Outer Link within a one-trip ride of the University and also mean the Inner Link is more balanced in how it serves the city centre.
- There have been some minor changes around the 011 route and how Selwyn Village is served – basically meaning that the status quo bus routes are kept. I don’t really have much of an opinion on this.
- The 020 route has inexplicably been lengthened to now operate the most indirect and complex route imaginable between Grey Lynn and the city centre. I look forward to the masses of complaints from people about how long it takes for the route to get from the Ponsonby end of Richmond Road to Albert Street. I think the basic service should be supplemented by a peak time 020X route that travels via Hopetoun Street, to give people a fast trip.
- The Outer Link route now stupidly doubles back on itself in Epsom, going all the way down to Greenlane West rather than via Stokes Road and Epsom Ave. Apparently this is because the left turn from Mt Eden Road to Stokes Road couldn’t be made easily.
Overall, the result is a mixture. I like the changes to the routes that the Inner and Outer Link will take through the city centre. I also like the fact that we’re going to see three branded Link Bus routes now – playing off the reputation that the “Green Link” has created (although personally I hate the Link Bus and its endless delays at Victoria Park).
However, the other two big changes are really stupid in my opinion. The 020 route is now going to be horribly slow and indirect for people, and we have lost the bus connection between Westmere/Grey Lynn and Karangahape Road. The latter was probably unavoidable, but as I said above the new 020 route is going to be so slow at peak times that I really think it needs to be supplemented by an “020X” express route that would work something like what’s shown below:
The route change to the Outer Link service is equally stupid, with the route being lengthened enormously as a result of the decision from Auckland Transport that the buses supposedly can’t turn left from Mt Eden Road into Stokes Road. Now I can understand that’s a pretty sharp left turn, but I doubt it’s sharper than the left turn from Symonds Street into Grafton Bridge – and issue that was solved quite simply by pushing back the ‘limit line’ for vehicles on Grafton Bridge so that there was adequate room for the buses to swing around while making the left turn. It seems like we end up with a big chunk of the Outer Link ruined just because Auckland Transport couldn’t be bothered changing a few road markings.
Other questions I had about the initial proposal still seem to be unanswered. Will there be traffic lights at the corner of Valley Road and Mt Eden Road, to ensure buses making a right turn out of Valley Road aren’t stuck there forever waiting? What measures will be put in place to ensure that Outer Link buses don’t bunch? My ‘normal link’ bus this morning waited at Victoria Park for around seven minutes while it ‘caught up’ to its timetable. Let’s hope Auckland Transport come up with a slightly better idea for keeping their buses to time than this. On a brighter note, it was confirmed that all of Pt Chevalier will now be within the “two stage” fare boundary, and that the maximum fare for a trip on the Outer Link will be two stages (although shorter trips will obviously just be one stage).
I the reason why I’m so frustrated about the 020 issue and the Stokes Road issue is because the rest of the changes are generally very good (presuming that the Outer Link is reliable and the Valley Road intersection is signalised). It’s just annoying when Auckland Transport do 90% of the job exceptionally well, but then stuff things up in a couple of areas to really take the gloss off things. Let’s hope that they review these two matters pretty quickly after implementation so that the changes can be a completely good thing for Auckland’s bus network.
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I don’t get the Outer Loop dog’s leg to Mt Eden, with Int. Ticketing this sort of ‘serve everywhere route shouldn’t be needed… should just continue along Balmoral Rd. My bus, 020, will be interesting to see what happens after Wellington St, but great that it won’t be tangling with the morass that is Queen St.
The Mt Eden Village and Valley Road shops are pretty important potential trip generators for the Outer Link so I don’t have a problem with it serving them – I liked the original route along Stokes Road and Epsom Ave.
Using google maps, with the change to going via Balmoral Rd the difference in driving time is 3-4 minutes however one thing to consider is the route now takes in the shops along that part of Manukau Rd as well as Alexandra Park and the Showgrounds
Can’t wait for the Link change – going to make my trip to work SO much quicker now instead of the big dogleg past the uni and Mayoral Drive.
“It’s just annoying when Auckland Transport do 90% of the job exceptionally well, but then stuff things up in a couple of areas to really take the gloss off things.”
Ah, I see, you’re a “glass 10% empty” kind of guy.
Well they did 90% of the Harbour Bridge right, yet I still can’t cross it unless I’m in a car or on a bus…..
Do we seriously think that anything has to be 100% good or it’s an “epic fail”, as the kids say? If so we’re setting ourselves up for a lifetime of disappointment.
It could be argued that transport in Auckland since the decision to rip out the trams has culminated in epic fail through 90 percenting everything.
But you do make a point.
The other thing is that they have very sneakily cut the Saturday frequency on the Inner link from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
As a reasonably frequent user (used to be daily until I moved suburbs) of the The 025, the new route is rather stupid. Not sure why Picton St residents seem to think that buses shouldn’t run down their street. I’m also annoyed that this route replaces the 024/025,028 and 015 routes as well as part of the 034/035 route while not giving any improvements from the current frequency. At least every 15 minutes.
I like the 80%, but I will comment on these mistakes.
I don’t drive or operate buses, so can’t comment on the feasibility of the Stokes corner. However, if they removed one of the westbound lanes on Stokes at the intersection there would almost certainly be room to turn a bus. Traffic on this street is pretty light, even at 3.30pm on a weekday (when it flushes much of the vehicle traffic for two schools).
If we thought buses were important, we could do it.
As it stands the bus will travel down a section of Balmoral Rd that has little connection with any housing, past Alexander Park corner, which is already well served by the 300 buses for the traffic it generates, and miss the Epsom Campus of the University of Auckland, a campus that has thousands of students daily. (UofA College of Education, as the campus was formerly designated, misses the expansion of the campus into a range of other subject areas. My brother takes courses in psychology and social work there, for example).
I’m not too concerned about diluting the Link brand into three, but I am concerned that the new CityLink duplicates the Wynard tram. This may reduce the tram to odd furniture rather than a credible part of the transport infrastructure, and so weaken the chances of light rail in future considerations of the transport mix. I guess we’ll see.
The map also demonstrates the unfortunate siting of Lee’s Station, because it is unable to connect with linking bus services.
On the plus side, there’s a great improvement in services past AUT and UofA’s city campus. The b-line designation, the Central Connector, and the Outer Link all head past.
Any increases in lanes to support these new operations? I presume that these services will run on average at least a decade in their current configurations, so they’ll be worth the minor investment to make them carry people as efficiently as possible.
To add to the list of positives, they have added the central connector and B Line routes through the central city
Another thing, looking at the map of the current routes, the 006 goes via Valley/Mt Eden Rd/Stokes Rd so why can’t the new route do it.
http://www.maxx.co.nz/media/12197/central%20auckland%20current%20routes%20network.pdf
The 006 is operated by smaller buses. But still, the left turn from Mt Eden into Stokes is surely not sharper than the left turn from Symonds into Grafton Bridge.
Nooo! I can’t believe the 020 doesn’t service K’ Rd any more. A lot of the time I’m working there and now it won’t actually be possible to get the bus any more. Not sure how the Auckland Girls Grammar students are expected to get to school any more. Aaaaaahhhhhh!
They can walk a few hundred metres from K Road or Wellington St, like many do on a daily basis already.
I like most of these changes as well – especially keeping the Inner Link stopping at Britomart. I catch the train into town then often get on the Link to go to Parnell – it is always busy with a number of people getting on here, off peak as well. The Outer link doesn’t need to go via Britomart, given the more far flung areas it serves there is likely a direct bus/train route for commuters.
Add my voice to questioning the salient route through Mt Eden – it should go along Stokes Rd.
Also, the 020 route is odd – I used to live in Grey Lynn and catch it into town. There seems to be a significant cultural & economic connection between GL and K Rd, especially for students, hipsters and young professionals. Why take away the direct link?
My daughter mostly walks all the way but I guess on rainy mornings like this she’ll have to get off the 020 on Ponsonby Rd @Richmond and walk past all the cafés in the rain….
Just consulted Rosza and she doesn’t think it’s a problem [020 missing AGGS], pointed out that she can always walk up Howe St as well along the flat of Ponsonby Rd.
But I do think it would be better if it went down Picton and Hepburn rather than needing to get from the left to the always busy right hand turn lane into Franklin from Ponsonby. It would still service the community in Freeman’s Bay….
Does seem strange. Perhaps we’ll get used to it, but it was great being able to get off a Link mid-K right outside your destination.
What’s the bet that ten years from now the City Link (red) will be a tram?
Still no solution to the bus stop mess in Grey Lynn (the 2 F’s are still there on the map). I still won’t be able to catch the 030 while waiting at the Gt N Rd stop for the W Auckland buses – unless I wait in front of the soon-to-be-gone Post Office and run to the relevant bus stop. There should be one bus stop serving all routes in front of that funky new record store.
What’s the deal with a route like 010. Who are they trying to serve and what are the frequencies?
The frequencies, as it says on the map, are 30 mins peak and 60 mins off peak. They are trying to serve Unitec students mainly, although as a Greylynner myself I am happy to be able to catch a bus direct to Onehunga.
And the more I think about it, the more I think the Outer LINK route changes are good, in that Mt Eden shops are now linked directly with not only Newmarket, but Epsom and the Dominion Road shops. When I used to live in Mt Eden, it drove me up the wall that there was no bus which went to the shopping centres right to other side, only direct into town. If the commenter who worked out that it only adds about 4 minutes to travelling time, I think it’s on balance a good choice.
Are they going to keep the route colour coding (for all of them, not just link) and start using them consistently everywhere? If they give us some new route maps and signage, I might almost be a happy punter. Oh, ignoring the flawed real-time system.
The three links will be colour coded.
the frequecies of the City Link have bee nreduced a fair bit from initially proposed, at first was 5minutes weekdays 7am – 7pm and 10minutes all other times. Now it has reduced to 7.5minutes with 15minutes to Wynnard Quarter.
Hope when ASB opens the 7.5mins is extended all the way, or preferably service popularity will push an increase to the frequency.
If we want to get people catching NEX and rail and then onto City Link really need 5mins. Will help increase the catchment for these services before CBDRL is built.
Cars routinely ignore the markings at the Symonds St end of Grafton bridge, stopping right on top of the painted area. I travel the Central Connector every day, and several times I have been in buses that end up stuck in the middle of the K-Rd/Symonds St intersection because some idiot can’t understand what the painted bit on the road means. There’s more non-bus traffic down Stokes Rd than there is down Grafton Bridge, so if you wanted to make the limit line further back than it is now, you’d need clear signage telling people the proper place to stop, imo.