The follow is an email I received from a reader about his PT experience and what could be done to make it better. At the end of the post I have put some additional thoughts
Much of the debate about public transport is strategic; it talks about big projects and big numbers, and often forgets the implications for the little people out there. I recently had the opportunity to switch from driving to taking the bus, and I thought I’d present some numbers and some ideas to stimulate discussion.
I live out near Avondale, off Wolverton Street. I have traditionally driven to work in the CBD around 5:50am as I start work at 8am and need to get to the gym first, and also because I need to be home early enough to have enough sunlight to do some fieldwork. I finish between 4 and 4:45pm. With summer arriving, I decided to trade my carpark (more on costs later) for a monthly bus pass, leaving home at the same time. Here are the basic numbers:
CAR
Average time door-to-door inbound: 21 minutes
Average time door-to-door outbound: 33 minutesI should point out my CBD carpark is a good 10 minutes walk from my gym/work. If I’d had a closer (on-site) carpark, you can half the inbound and subtract a third from the outbound.
BUS
Average time door-to-door inbound: 41 minutes
Average time door-to-door outbound: 48 minutesSo, on average it takes me 20 minutes longer inbound, and 15 minutes longer outbound; 35 minutes a day, 175 minutes a week. Given c.45 working weeks a year that’s a loss of 7250 minutes or 131.25 hours – that’s three full working weeks of lost time.
Looking at costs – my monthly bus pass is $140 and my monthly carpark was $220, a saving straight away of $80. Additionally, I am using a lot less petrol – my rough estimate is a saving of $30/week. I am not going to include other costs, because I would have a car anyway so talk of savings on insurance and registration is irrelevant.
That gives me approximate savings of $200/month, or $2400/year. Is saving $2400 a year worth losing 127.5 hours a year? It gives a hourly rate of $18.82. That’s pretty low, but I get some back from reading on the bus; I also lose some from the discomfort of being crowded.
My own personal view is that I can only use public transport during summer. During winter, the sun sets shortly after 5pm, and the bus would simply not give me a 20-minute sunshine window to do fieldwork, which driving does.
So, what can Auckland Transport do to keep people like me on public transport, who would love to do so, but have crunched the numbers and found it a bad idea?
- Much of my time when using public transport is spent walking to and waiting for buses – I haven’t separated them but on average on the outbound leg, about 11 minutes is spent walking to bus stop/waiting. On the inbound leg, 7 minutes – which is roughly 70% of the time it would take me to drive to my carpark (with the extra walk on top)
- More buslanes!!!
- More buses during the evening peak. As noted, the bus itself doesn’t take too long, but waiting for buses takes ages.
- More express buses. I doubt a bus can ever beat my inbounds time, but with expresses and the Sandringham Road buslanes, it might beat my outbound.
- Straighten out the routes. The buses continue to do a dogleg around Owairaka Shops rather than turning up Maioro Road extension. It adds 5-7 minutes.
My thoughts on some of the suggestions
- Fully agree with the need for more bus lanes and personally I find it a little disappointing that AT are currently in the process of widening Tiverton/Wolverton Rd with what appears to be no thought of them. Perhaps AT should consider one of the added lanes as a Bus, Truck and T2/3 lane. Once Waterview is completed it should remove a lot of car traffic from this route and so the case for better priority should be even stronger.
- On the last point about straightening out the routes, it appears that the dogleg at Owairaka is being removed as part of the changes to the bus network as can be seen on the pink line in the image below
- Not sure about the need for more express buses or if significant time savings could be achieved through better bus lanes and other operating improvements. For example getting more people using HOP (once it is rolled out) along with all door boarding and changes to how cash tickets are sold could easily save 1-2 minutes per bus journey. Even bigger could be re-spacing bus stops. A quick check shows that starting from the bus stop outside Kowhai Intermediate though to Wolverton Rd are on average just 300m apart with some as close as 130m. If stop spacing could be extended to 400m which shouldn’t have too much impact on the overall pedestrian catchment then combined with the removal of the Owairaka diversion it has the potential to remove ~700m and 9 bus stops from the route. That could potentially save quite a bit of time for someone going all of the way to Wolverton St.
I’m keen to hear your thoughts though, whether it be what could be done to improve this route or the route you catch. I’m particularly interested in any suggestions you have for improvements outside of the current plans (network, ticketing, fares etc.)
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Rather than remove a bus stop (which is always subject to lots of public backlash), why not introduce the concept of off-peak only bus stops for those less well used ones.
So every second bus stop becomes off peak only or especially when they are too close together maybe every 3rd one.
Lets call these two types of bus stops A and B bus stops.
During peak hours the bus only stops at the “A” stops, off peak it does the A and B stops like it does now.
This turns all peak hour buses into semi-express buses.
The theory being that in off-peak times the buses stop a lot less anyway and loads less people each time, so having to stop at every stop is no worse than they do now.
The reduction in peak stops with this idea would help remove one of the biggest gripes most bus users have (I know I do and its why I dislike using the bus) – how often the damn bus has to stop to pick up/let off passengers – every few hundred metres/minutes it seems
Most bus users already cope with the concept that not every bus stop is visited by every bus thats why they have route numbers on the stop to tell you what buses service the stop, so adding to the route number an A or B to indicate peak-only would not be too much of a change.
The trade off is walking further to your peak bus stop (assuming the one nearest you is not an A one). At worst thats another 400 metres,but the time spend doing that will be returned in spades by the resulting quicker trip.
Sounds overcomplicated. Just get rid of a lot of the stops, you don’t see trains having stations every 100 metres
Maybe but you could start with A stops for peak times only as a trial just need some labels on the bus stops and some advertising totell people whats changing and there you go.
Taking away a bus stop takes forever, and could be a longer term outcome but we’re talking here about bigger immediate wins for small inputs.
Greg the issue I have with that is some of the stops are currently in the wrong location for that to work so it isn’t just a case of skipping some stops. As an example. Currently on Sandringham Rd northbound between the Sandringham shops and St Lukes Rd there are four stops, One at the shops, One just south of Shorwell St, one on the northern side of Edendale Primary and one just south of St Lukes Rd. I would argue that the middle two stops could be combined into one quite easily which would still work well for all users. That is something that can’t be done by just skipping some stops . Worth noting that there are only three stops southbound doing pretty much exactly what I’m suggesting here.
It would end up with something like below with the * being stops.
*—*—*—*
*—–*—–*
In that case you’re planning on moving 2 stops to a 3rd completely new 1 not just closing one of them – thats going to require a lot more consultation with the locals. Which will take time.
Agree that where the stops are in the wrong place for a route them stop using them. But if other routes can use those stops, then they should stay, just not be used by some of those routes.
I can’t think of a route like this now where only some bus routes use a particular stop (except in town where thats the norm).
But I am sure I’ve seen some around the Eastern Suburbs a while ago where this did occur in the past.
As I recall the subject of bus stops was raised by Jarrod in his IPENZ talk this year and he said that there will be upset people as a result buts it really the only way to make the buses run faster without putting in lots of busways/lanes.
“The theory being that in off-peak times the buses stop a lot less anyway and loads less people each time”
Doesn’t work that way I’m afraid. In peak trips there are lots of people but virtually everyone has a pass of some sort and tend to get on and off in bunches, Off peak the shopping baskets and prams and goldcards come out, travel patterns are lot more random so we actually stop more not less, and three quarters of the people getting on need a ticket printed so loading off peak passengers is a lot slower than loading the peak crowds.
We used to (possibly still do, not my area) run limited stop buses along Dominion Rd that only stopped at Valley Rd shops, View Rd shops, Balmoral shops, Mt Roskill shops and the terminus. If you had a clear bus lane those could be a properly quick trip out to Mt Roskill shops but all it took was getting stuck behind a local bus that stopped everywhere or a slow bicycle and that was that – but it’s still the best way to speed things up if you haven’t got a proper separate busway. So I largely agree with you, except I’d have a lot more B stops 🙂
Also worth noting, the thing that makes the stopping painful is the waiting to get back out into the traffic after stopping. We need the Aussie rule about signal – two – three – go, and we need to stop building roads with bus stop bays so that the bus isn’t obstructing the all important cars while it stops for 20 seconds.
Doh … I’d have a lot morte *A* stops.
Totally agree with Greg. Australian buses have right of way when pulling in to traffic. I’m not sure if this requires a law change, but it’s worth pushing for.
You’re the bus driver so you’d know more than me about off peak trips.
But yes removing stops especially at peaks in some way is a simple way to speed things up for most travellers..
And yep, getting back into traffic is a problem once pulled in.
So is that why I see buses only half way pulling into the bus bays these days so that the cars behind either wait or move to the other lane And I just thought they were sloppy drivers 🙂
Ride your bike into CBD, then you wont need to go to the gym, and you can sleep in!
Respacing bus stops has to be the big one. Also, thinking about where they are, for example my bus stop is at the bottom of a steep hill that is around 800m long if the bus doesn’t stop at my stop it averages about 40 up the hill, if it does stop it is lucky to get over 30 going up.
I travel along Te Atatu Road yo the motorway (mid-west) most mornings, and it is terrible. it often takes 30mins of queuing at 8:00am to get past the Te Atatu Road/Great North Road roundabout for example. I know that Len Brown flagged this road for an upgrade in his election promises so heres my ideas:
Remove the Te Atatu Road/Great North Road roundabout. Replace with lights. Maybe remove access to norcross road (a minor side street) and remove access to shops at this intersection (there is several other entrances).
Widen the road to allow for bus/T2 lanes both ways. These lanes should continue down Great North Road to Henderson and link in with Waitakere Central train/bus terminal.
Remove some bus stops! I haven’t measured but many look <100m apart
Increase bus frequency. Most buses out west go from Henderson – New lynn – …. – Britomart, but surely there is enough demand to run more from Henderson – Pt Chev – Grey lynn – Britomart. It's more direct.
Anyway my two cents
actually I have got my intersections confused! there is no shops at that roundabout. I was thinking of the Glendene roundabout which is a different story altogether.
Why does “waiting for the bus” take so long ? Is it a perception or actual ? You could time your departure from home or work so that it allows perhaps 1-2 minutes of grace before the scheduled departure time. Any additional waiting time is because the bus is late. My nearest train service is 1 hour 10 minutes drive away, and if I leave home at 6:15 am, there is enough time to buy my ticket and a 5 minute wait before the service departs.
You have also not placed a value on the time spent walking (or running) to the bus as reducing the time you need to spend at the gym. I drive to work (no PT available), but have a walk each morning for exercise.
So for a PT operator, the messages should be
– lateness (relative to the timetable) has a strong negative influence on perceptions by passengers
– dog-legs to shopping centers also also have strong negative perception
– the negative perception of unproductive time can be offset by having something to do, such as web browsing on a phone, but for most passengers this requires seating on the vehicle and at the bus stop.
For the shopping center doglegs, perhaps these may be more appropriate for off-peak services, when there are more shoppers and fewer time-sensitive commuters.
“You could time your departure from home or work so that it allows perhaps 1-2 minutes of grace before the scheduled departure time”
I take it you have never caught a bus in Auckland?
They run no where near to precise enough to time it for 1-2 mins.
I have given up trying to time the Northern express, there is one every ten minutes during the peak hours, and i tried for weeks to figure out a pattern so i could get to the station just a minute or two before before it turned up, but no dice. Sometimes they are on time, sometimes they are one minute early, most often they are 5-6 mins late, sometimes 8 mins late…. there’s basically no pattern, they will turn up when they turn up, so i just leave the office whenever i am done and get ready to run if i see the bus pulling up if i am near.
It would help if they would introduce real-time departure boards, then i could time my departure according to how early/late the bus is running.
And this is running on a mostly grade separated busway where congestion shouldn’t be a problem.
Now
“For the shopping center doglegs, perhaps these may be more appropriate for off-peak services, when there are more shoppers and fewer time-sensitive commuters.”
My concept for these is to run a small shuttle. My local buses come up Sandringham road and some of them seem to take a detor to the Shopping Mall on St Lukes Road.
Rather than make all passenger take this detour, have the mall shoppers make a transfer.
A shuttle could run along St Lukes Rd from the intersection with Sandringham Rd, drop off/pick up from the mall. Carry on up to new North Road, pick up / drop off to connect with NNR routes, right onto NNR, pick up / drop off at morningside train station, up morningside rd, pick up / drop off at the mall, and back to Sandringham Road to start again.
Would have thought running this all day would be cheaper than having many of the NNR and Sandringham buses detour, give non-mall shoppers quicker times into town, while giving mall shoppers many more PT options to the mall as the shuttle would interchange with all NN and Sandringham Rd busses. Maybe even loop up to Dominion Rd.
I almost never wait more than 2-3 minutes for a bus. That is because I have the AT app on my phone, and check my stop before I go outside.
Maybe need to raise awareness of this app as few seem to know about it.
Even going from the train to the bus demonstrates how broken the system is.
Normally I catch the train from Ranui to Britomart. Circumstances meant this morning I had to catch the bus.
The bus was 5 minutes late leaving. It’s a slow ride as it weaves its way through middle of nowhere backstreets. We stop at every traffic light. Took 45 minutes to get to the motorway, and the bus wasn’t even half full. Bus lanes are few and far between so we get stuck in general motorway traffic. An hour and a half travel time door-to-door.
Improve this by taking the train. on time, no delays, park and ride, and just over an hour door-to-door.
I used to drive into work from out west. It was horrible. 45min to get into the CBD. That 45mins needs to be devoted to driving, to keeping your eyes on the road (I accept that listening to music or the radio can add a little interest it what was the most tedious and boring part of the day).
I have since moved to Waiheke. I take the bus down to the ferry terminal and then the ferry into the CBD. The amount of time it takes to get to work is the about the same – but what is important here is that I can use that time effectively. I can read the paper or a book. With my laptop, I can work. Or I can talk to my fellow passengers. Joy!
So, although when using PT it may take longer to get from A to B, that time can be 100% more productive. To my mind, this is one of the most underated aspects of PT and something that AT should really capitalize on.
Free wi-fi on all PT services, then.
quickly improving mobile data services will soon make that irrelevant. Certainly by the time roll-out is complete will be no need for it. Issue is our slow mobile speeds no lack of wifi.
Here are my 7 quick fixes for the bus network, based on a really good route I used to catch in London:
1) Make people use HOP instead of cash by making the cash prices double (they are in London)
2) Bendy buses with big side doors, lots of people can get on and off at once, honesty system rather than the driver seeing you swipe your HOP
3) Less bus stops (maybe half what we have now)
4) Dedicated bus lanes (the current ones tend to be bus lanes where they aren’t needed then general purpose at the intersections where they are needed)
5) Higher frequency (might cost a bit at first, but with frequency will come more users)
6) Get rid of the stupid detours (e.g. Dominion road buses detour via Mt Eden road instead of continuing down Ian McInnon drive)
7) Better information (the other night my phone had two less buses listed on the stop information than the screen at the stop did)
The bendy buses really did work well in London, the bus would pull up and 20 people could get on in a matter of seconds, here that can take quite a few minutes at busy stops. This then causes bunching (the bus behind catches up while people are boarding, looking for change, etc), and that effectively kills frequency.
None of this would cost much, and it would radically transform the bus network into something quite usable.
You forgot the “Exact change or overpay” rule. Excellent for speeding things up in terms of people getting cards.
“The bendy buses really did work well in London” for people who didn’t want to pay
My suggestions are:
1. Pick up only at the designated stop (and yes, space them out to 300 – 400 m). Tamaki Dr buses can often stop up to three times in the 30m from the stops on Tyler St to Queen st to pick up passengers who are late for the bus. If they are late, they should wait for the next service.
2. Ask bus drivers to stop having long conversations with passengers who get on the bus and don’t know where they are going – one passenger can hold the bus up for three or four minutes while the 40 others are waiting not so patiently.
3. Reduce the Hop fare to make it more worthwhile using a Hop card. If a passenger wants to pay cash – exact fare only – round the cash fare to $3, $4 or $5 etc. Don’t give change.
4. Better driver training so that drivers actually know the route they are travelling on and don’t have to ask passengers which way to go or where the bus stops are.
4. Educate passengers to have their Hop cards (or cash) ready before they board the bus. Many passengers get on and then it seems to come as a surprise that they then have to pay while then fumbling in their bags for a hop card or money.
5. Similarly, educate passengers that they don’t have to wait for the bus doors to open before tagging off – they can do this while the bus is slowing down.
6. Alighting passengers to leave the bus speedily – not sit there for ages even after the bus has come to a complete standstill.
Yes yes yes.
My local bus route is being improved by them removing the stop outside my house. Not too much of an issue for me as I tend to walk a few stops down get some exercise in.
No mention of bus lanes or bus priority at the intersections however.
Crazy huh.
Bus lanes or bus priority? In Auckland? Apparently it’s happening but I wouldn’t hold that breath yet based on historical information.
Why isn’t this guy catching a train from New Lynn?
Maybe he works around Aotea Square, or Symonds Street?
Public transport just isnt competitive in many suburbs.
Me and my wife work in the CBD, perfect for public transport since its less likely to involve a change. We commute from Upper middle class area of West Harbour / Hobsonville.
We have the choice of taking the bus, it takes 1 hour and 20 minutes since it stops in henderson etc or driving. Guess what we do?
Why should I spend close to 3 hours on a bus when it takes 1 hour to drive.
Seriously something is wrong when thats the case. I want to take public transport, I grew up doing so but Auckland Transport is inept at what its doing.
From West Harbour/Hobsonville one can take a ferry. Not really its three rides each way per day and the last ferry leaves around 08.45 which is to early for any parent with children. Add on that the last ferry from downtown leaves before 6pm and yeah ferries which would be awesome just isnt an option.
With only three rides in each direction they wouldnt be anyway, we are office workers and cant plan our life according to three afternoon ferries…
So we both drive. Two cars from our family goes between West Harbour and the CBD each day and this is two adults that would prefer to use buses if there were reasonable options.
reasonable options such as a Westgate express bus every 30 minutes for example…
I doubt any city can supply good PT to all areas. Personally I think the current approach of trying to apply some level of PT no matter how bad to almost everywhere is flawed – instead there should be really good PT in certain areas, and no PT in the remaining. People who want to use PT can choose their location accordingly.
So what about, say, teenagers whose parents choose to live in a non-PT area? Seems like a pretty unfair policy, although I agree that certain areas should be prioritised.
Bring on the NW busway, or an all day ferry service to Hobsonville right? Frequent direct routes and interconnected networks like this.http://greaterakl.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/New-FTN-Network.jpg
A 7 minute last-mile walk could be a 2-5 minute cruise on a bicycle. Not saying it’s necessarily practical today, but with wider stop spacing and integrated bike parking, that could help. (Note that expanding catchments with cycling allows stops to be more distant, and fewer stops makes integrating bike parking more feasible — a virtuous loop.) Likewise, there could be bike share at the city end.
When you embrace multi-modal journeys, it’s useful to remember that cycling is like walking, but faster.
Great comment and 100% agree. Almost everyone on the Isthmus (and most people in West Auckland) is 10mins cycle (3kms) from a train station.
If you cant physically manage to cycle 3kms then you are really an invalid and I understand completely why you wouldnt do it.
What slow mobile speeds? Vodafone 3G is pretty fast in most places I’ve used it along the Southern and Western lines (I travel daily between Papatoetoe and Avondale) even during the peak. The main issue for me is the cost of data — I can easily blow my 2G monthly cap on a fairly expensive plan. 🙁