Consultation on the new bus network in the South closes on Friday

Over the last month and a half, Auckland Transport have been busy consulting in South Auckland on the new bus network that is one of the key ingredients needed to revolutionise public transport in Auckland. However thankfully consultation can’t go on forever and so it closes at 4pm on Friday. That means that if you haven’t already and you want to then it is important that you get your submission in. You can find all of the details you need for it here. If you haven’t already seen it make sure you watch this video about the changes

One of the most important aspects of the new network is that it takes the existing resources we have that are tied up on inefficient services and puts them to better use in a much more legible way. If the proposal goes through, we go from having a bus network that looks like spaghetti thrown on a map to one that is actually readable without needing a three year degree in some arcane science. An example of what we have now and what we may go to if the consultation is accepted as is, is below. It’s important to point out that not all lines are created equal. Just because a route and line exist, it doesn’t mean that there is any real service there and there might be only one bus a day trundling along.

One of the key developments that have occurred is the introduction of what is known as the Frequent Network. The frequent network is a series of routes that will run at a minimum of every 15 minutes, from 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week.  That is quite a bit better than almost all routes have today, or even what they would have by 2016 if we continued under the current structure as is shown below.

The one major issue that some people have is that the new network may mean they will need to transfer between services. While that can be annoying, by embracing transfers along with integrated fares it opens up a lot more of the city to high quality public transport. While some people may be annoyed to be inconvenienced by this or perhaps even put off using public transport altogether, on the other side of the coin it provides potential for a lot of others. My understanding is that overseas cities that have gone through this change tend to see a dip in patronage when first implemented as those that are the most annoyed by the changes give up using the services however that can quickly turn around and within a few years patronage is much higher than it ever was under the old system.

A concern I noticed popping up in the comments of our previous posts was the issue of rail capacity. In particular people were concerned that there wouldn’t be enough capacity on the rail network which would undermine the efforts to use buses as feeders to the rail network to a much larger degree. This stems from the issue that people look at how full our trains are at peak times now and can’t see how any more people will fit on. The thing is though that our new electric trains will have much much larger capacity than what we are currently used to so should easily be able to handle the changes.

One other slightly contentious point has been the proposed closures of Te Mahia and Westfield. My personal feeling is that they should close both stations due to their stubbornly low patronage and no real opportunities to see dramatic changes. For Te Mahia it is often mentioned that the development due to happen on the Manukau Golf Course in the next few years however what is often not mentioned is that even the closest houses in that development are about 500m away from the station (via current access arrangements) and that the course is long and thin so likely more than half of the dwellings would be more than 1km away. At that distance not a long of people are going to walk to the station compared to driving or catching a feeder bus to Manurewa. In Westfield’s case patronage is largely a result of the rail staff that work at the site, with trains being maintained at Wiri the staff won’t need to be visiting Westfield and so what patronage it does have will drop further.

In addition to above, Auckland Transport have quietly released this video to answer a few questions about the network.

Lastly the consultation gets a brief mention in the Auckland Transport business report that goes to the board today.

Public consultation commenced on 19 June for the first phase of the bus new service network redesign in South Auckland and will close on 2 August 2013. At 9 July 552 submissions had been received with initial indicative assessment being that 57.6% support or strongly support the proposal, 17.4% oppose or strongly oppose and the rest are neutral or don’t know (25.1%).

Considering the way that submissions tend to flood in near the end of a consultation period, it suggests that AT will get a fairly strong response. Extremely positively it appears that the majority of people who have already submitted have been supportive of the network however it is still important that if you have your say (if you haven’t already).

Share this