This week SkyCity kicked off a debate about where the Intercity bus terminal should be. Currently it’s almost hidden on the Hobson St side of their premises and was put there as a resource consent condition when the casino was built. However Skycity want to use the space for something else, likely to be related to the construction of the convention centre across the road.

SkyCity Entertainment Group wants Auckland’s InterCity Coachlines station out of its casino headquarters.

Nigel Morrison, chief executive of the $2.6 billion Australasian business, said the busy transport hub, which has operated on the ground floor of the casino giant’s premises since 1996, is not in the best place for either his business or for passengers.

SkyCity is in the final design phase of its $402 million convention centre, to be built opposite the bus station, spanning the Hobson St/Nelson St block. It will have a pedestrian footbridge connection planned over Hobson St and demolition of buildings is due to begin soon.

Mr Morrison said he wanted authorities to examine better locations and suggested Britomart because InterCity would then link with other public transport modes, including trains, suburban buses and ferries. He called for action from Auckland Council.

“We want to do something with the busway. It’s inappropriate and it’s up to the council. It should be down at Britomart or some transport hub, not here,” Mr Morrison said.

Of course as pointed out by the developer of  the Britomart area, there’s not really the space for more buses around Britomart right now. As it is buses are spread out all over the place in a confusing mess.

But Matthew Cockram, chief executive of Britomart developer Cooper and Company, bristled at the suggestion.

“It is nice of Nigel to be so concerned about bus passengers and the city’s arrangements to accommodate them,” he said. Britomart was already overloaded with buses.

“Capacity has been reached and there is a pressing need for rethinking and a comprehensive solution for buses in the lower part of the CBD. To drop InterCity in without sorting that out first would be unwise and really only moving deckchairs about,” Mr Cockram said.

While Britomart has its own issues I do think this is a worthy debate to be having. The current location doesn’t seem great for anyone and what’s more it helps towards creating an area that is super unfriendly towards anyone not in a car. As the herald editorial today describes it, it is a cheerless place occupying a dark corner of the casino complex.

SkyCity Bus Terminal

I would love to see this side of Skycity redeveloped and made more outward facing, like they have been starting to do with Federal St however they would also need to address the carpark entrance (and exit) that result in a narrow and unfriendly footpath. I’m not a fan of the idea of having an air-bridge spanning Hobson St. Perhaps in return for moving the bus depot this is an opportunity for the council and Auckland Transport to require this block to be redeveloped into a more people friendly state including the closing of those carpark ramps.

As for the bus terminal. It’s likely that with the new network we’ll be seeing a lot of changes to bus arrangements in the CBD, I wonder it could be included in changes being made as part of that. One thing’s for sure the worse option is that suggested by Heart of the City which has long seemed to hate the idea of buses in the city centre (despite buses delivering a huge percentage of the people who go to the CBD).

Alex Swney, Heart of the City chief executive, said the bus depot was in the wrong location “dominated by the SkyCity complex. It’s always been shoe-horned in there.”

He wants it moved to the edge of the CBD.

Where do you think it should go?

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67 comments

  1. “…I would love to see this side of Skycity redeveloped and made more outward facing…”

    Ever seen a tinny house that was outward facing? People whose business is addiction like to ply their trade in private.

  2. The intercity terminal is indeed dour. One option would be to spruce up the existing area.

    There is something missing from that picture and that is the row of taxis and cars in the pick-up area when buses are there. Intercity passengers have luggage and you really would like to have car pick-up area. Britomart is unlikely to have room. So, is there a place that has both good public transport connections _and_ a pick up area?

    Also, Intercity passengers may not want to end their journey in the CBD. They will often want to travel outwards to wherever they need to put their luggage. So good connections are useful, but they don’t need to start from the centre – it just so happens that the best connected section of town is the CBD. Newmarket is possibly the next best connected.

  3. Didn’t Sky City get bonus floor space for providing the bus terminal space?
    Is Sky City prepared to remove some of their GFA in return for removing the bus terminal?
    What percentage of the visitors to the convention centre are likely to use the bus terminal? If the conventioneers are foreign visitors bus tours are likely to be a regular event during many conventions. Where will the tour coaches go?

    1. I think tour coaches can’t use the intercity terminal, they usually stop in federal or victoria.
      What about the old central train station carpark?

      1. I agree. The old auckland train station would be good. Even around the back of the building. Its such a shame that its used as just student accomodation. It should have a civic use or something else that the public can freely go inside.

        If the old train station was used i imagine tge buses would come down hobson st. Then have a stop along customs st so people can connect to trains, ferries etc. Then on the the last stop at the old railway building. I think that would cover all bases.

    2. Not sure about bonus floor space but it was required as part of resource consent. That’s why I’m suggesting agree to move it on the condition that they activate that edge and close the carpark ramps.

      1. I would guess they’d want Sky City to build a replacement terminal before agreeing to a change of conditions.

  4. Naked Bus have their CBD pickup point on Quay St opposite the ferry building, which is just around the corner from Britomart. However they don’t have a ticket office or other infrastructure there. Similarly the Airbus is next to the ferry building. I assume the since the existing point is owned by Intercity they don’t let other companies use it.

    There seems to be plenty of places where you can fit a couple of buses and an office around Quay St. Especially if you assume Sky city will pay a few dollars towards moving costs. Hopefully it could be shared by all companies.

    1. Well, considering Johnston’s Coachlines owns Airbus Express, and operates 80% of the Naked Bus network, one would assume their relationship with InterCity is not great.

  5. Transform the car park in the rear of Britomart to bus station make sense have it there makes it a transport hub

  6. Originally the site of the casino was marked to be the western bus terminal. Somehow the land ended up in Skycity’s hands and the bus terminal project disappeared. By the look of the casino I would suggest that Skycity used the original bus terminal plans.
    Of course Britomart/Downtown area is the obvious choice for a central transport terminal and I always thought that that was the original concept but it will never happen if developers are allowed to build on every bit of land that is available even to filling up the bit of lawn at the rear of the train station with a load of junk boxes. The same thing has happened at the Wynyard Quarter.
    Maybe it is time to pick up on the late Sir Bob Kerridge’s scheme to fill in Hobson Bay and re-site the city centre there and just start all over again as what we have now can only be called a train wreck of a city.

  7. Is moving the terminal over the other side of the street an option, as part of their new building? When the Aotea rail station is up and running, that part of town will be better connected than it is. Agree that the bus route review should consider the best location though.

    1. I agree with this – surely they can develop the new facility to have access for incoming buses (from motorways at end of Nelson St) and outgoing buses (motorways at end of Hobson St). Just give them a floor across the width of the block with big doors and plenty of pedestrian access. Melbourne has a similar hub like this in Southern Cross Station, although it could be more open.

  8. I like the set up at southern cross station in Melbourne. Mmoving aside from that, why not redevelop the old train station as the intercity terminal for both buses AND trains

    1. This is the best option. The park in front of it is a underused disgrace and im sure they can repurchase the station entrance for a lobby, create a loop removing all the carpark s:). But no need for trains close enough to link buses and Briromart plus skycity has be able to fork out for it:) but

  9. I agree that the current Inter City terminal is pretty dire and very poorly located.

    But before thinking about relocating the intercity services there should be a thorough review of the existing city “terminal” for suburban buses spread over hundreds of metres around the Britomart precinct. I made a presentation on this topic to the Transport Committee a couple of years back, suggesting that the Christchurch Bus Exchange might be a good model, combined with routes that pass through rather than terminate in the centre (so that there is limited need to stable buses there). Nothing much seems to have happened since – though there have been quite a few reports on ways to simplify and rationalise bus routes though the CBD.

    1. Agreed, Graeme. Britomart presents a tremendous amount of central space, yet only a handful of bus routes actually go there. Rather odd for our Central Station…

  10. ““We want to do something with the busway. It’s inappropriate and it’s up to the council. It should be down at Britomart or some transport hub, not here,” Mr Morrison said.”

    Well, no. Through their resource consent Sky City has a legal obligation to provide that terminal.

    That said, the current situation is a bit of mess. Naked Bus has its facility-free stop on Quay St (not even any shelter from rail or sun), but at least it’s close to good public transport, which is more than can be said of Sky City (or of the old railway station or Wynyard – suggestions in jest, surely!?!).

    Britomart is the obvious area for Sky City to arrange and pay for an acceptable substitute, preferably for all operators, so how about the north side of Quay St, using some Auckland Council (via Ports of Auckland); or in the the rebuild of the Downtown shopping centre?

    1. The old railway station is a walk away from britomart (that is soon to be upgraded together with the cycle way) and two traffic lights away from the motorway. So why not?

      1. Why not? Because having taken 70 years to finally do something about the the poor, remote location of the 3rd Auckland Railway (and long-distance bus) Station by moving it back to the excellent, central site of the second one, it takes just 10 years for moving services back there to be suggested!

        Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it…

  11. Why anyone would voluntarily use the footpath along Hobson St between the car park entrance and exit is beyond me. I sometimes walk on that side of Hobson St, but always go through the bus terminal. I think there’s even signs suggesting to do just that as a pedestrian.
    On shifting the bus terminal I agree that Britomart would make sense, but where could this be accommodated for? There would need to be some waiting area available. Maybe it could be part of redeveloping the AT downtown carpark?

    1. “Why anyone would voluntarily use the footpath along Hobson St between the car park entrance and exit is beyond me.”

      The footpath is perfectly fine, it’s the bus terminal and car park entrances that are the bad part / the parts where there’s not even any real provision at all. The car park entrances could be bridged by raised pedestrian tables with zebra crossings – the bus entrance is more difficult.

      Overall, I agree that SkyCity is NOT a good place for the terminal, BUT they should not simply be allowed to edge out of their resource consent requirements…

      1. So let them pay for (at least a big part) of the relocation, and use the current convention centre resource consent fix the current location for peds.

        1. I use it quite a bit when I walk past there, usually deliberately stroll acros without looking at the drivers coming out of the driveway in order to make the point.

  12. Im thinking maybe located in close proximity to the new Parnell station? Therefore good links to the rail network, motorway and the CBD.

    1. NZBus attempted to use the land there as a bus depot and the locals fought it tooth and nail, same situation here. Besides, such land is much better suited to a TOD not a bus depot.

  13. I reckon build a new intercity terminal on top of Grafton Station and the adjacent vacant land between the station and Park/Khyber intersection. Here’s why:
    – If you build above Grafton, you get large triangle of space, street-facing. Could work with either sawtooth or linear bus bays.
    – Well served by the Central Connector busway beside it, and immediately beneath it you have the pre-CRL Western line (with better frequencies post-electrification), or the Post-CRL Onehunga or Airport line.
    – Good motorway access for the buses – via the Khyber Pass ramps for buses to/from the south and Grafton Gully for buses to/from the north.

    Otherwise, on the land by Bledisloe House off Albert St, adjacent to the future Aotea Station, that is currently a surface level carpark.

    1. I’m thinking Skycity is keen for something sooner than 20 years, but in any case, basing a move on the CRL could be a good way to get SkyCity lobbying the government to build it, National’s in their back pocket as it is.

    2. Why not relocate the intercity terminal to original Skycity site which was traded for the present location and ear marked for a bus terminal before the trade off was done and the land sold to Brierley for apartments. The apartments were cheaply built and have now been mostly demolished leaving the land available. It has a side street entrance in Glenside Crescent and a direct hop to the CBD.

  14. The current location is far from ideal; it’s dark, run-down and dangerous for pedestrians. In terms of location, it’s not too bad; being centrally located it’s within walking distance of most of the CBD and many hotels are located nearby. Britomart might be better in terms of connections with other buses, trains and ferries, but the current situation there is bad enough as it is and the 5/6 stops needed for Intercity buses would most likely end up being located a long way from the main stops. The only location near to the main stops that would be large enough is on or adjacent to Quay Street. There’s definitely some good potential to develop a joint Intercity/Nakedbus terminal, although in order to provide a decent shelter (which should ideally cover both the waiting area and where the buses stop to prevent luggage getting wet when it’s loaded) and a booking office, it would probably need to be located on what is currently port land opposite Commerce Street.

    An alternative that I’m surprised doesn’t get mentioned more often is to locate it under or adjacent to the SkyCity Convention Centre. That way it could be a modern, comfortable facility and still benefit from the convenient location of the current terminal. There would also be the possibility of providing some sort of link to Aotea station, either via a tunnel under Hobson Street or the sky-bridge that SkyCity are proposing.

  15. The existing Sky City terminal has close by motorway access north, south and west.
    It is near Auckland City bus stops.
    It is obviously adjacent the sky city hotel, and near all other CBD hotels and backpackers.
    It appears to be reasonably out of the weather.
    Any replacement terminal should probably at least meet the above.

    Britomart is several more intersections away form the motorways, which could be 20mins during peak traffic.
    Parnell will only have half the CRL trains
    Grafton doesn’t have nearby bus services north or west.

    Planning should consider post CRL stations, and Auckland city bus routes.

    So I think the existing location is pretty good.
    Other possibilities might be:
    Under Albert St, adjacent to Aotea station.
    Somewhere around either K’Rd or Newton Station, if Auckland bus services are routed past.
    Possibly the airport, once there is a rail connection to the CBD.

  16. Is there still a plan to take the NW busway up Wellesley St once Aotea Station is open? If so, then an Intercity station near Aotea would make sense as the buses can come right up the bus way and then leave again up Stanley St right on to the motorway.

    1. Depending on what the council decide to do with the council building in Aotea Square, they could put the intercity bus terminal around there near Mayoral Drive and close to the future Aotea station.

      1. I think Bob’s is the best idea so far. If we have to do this it should be in a basement off of Mayoral drive by the intersection with Wellesley with a ped underpass to Aotea, like a real city.

        Has Wellesley and Albert St bus lanes, good M’way access and a central site, close to hotels etc.

        Skycity should be forced to cover land and construction costs for a design that the council/AT make. And I agree with the posts above that the council should make the CRL a prerequisite for construction to get skycity to pressure the government, and that a postrequisite should be to completely redevelop that frontage to not be absolutely rubbish and support pedestrian movement.

  17. Put it in the carpark behind the Bledisloe building, or rather the basement of whatever gets built at street level there. It is a big hole in the ground so all you’d see otherwise is basement parking I assume.

    Easy access to the motorways via Cook and Hobson/Nelson, doesn’t send the coaches across the CBD. New Wellesley St buses straight outside on one side, all the Albert St buses on the other. City and Inner Links a block away. Once Aotea station is built integrate it as a single station, a la Southern Cross.

    You could even use it to terminate express buses for commuters at peak times, given that the coaches tend to head off first thing before the peak, and tend not to arrive until late.

    I believe that site has always been designated for a bus terminal, so it would be easy.

  18. To misquote Shakespare:

    “Methinks the casino doth protest too much”.

    SkyCity did a land swap with the old ACC to ensure that their SkyTower (and Casino) got consent to proceed.
    As consent for the land Sky City owned which was at the top of Khyber Pass Road/Symonds Street was likely going to be declined by the commissioners appointed to hear the application as not being suitable for the SkyTower (too prominent).

    And as part of the land swap deal, because the land that ACC swapped with SkyCity, was to be used for the Western Bus Terminal,
    SkyCity had to agree to provide a bus terminal on their premises.
    The alternative was to stay put on their “old” site and likely lose their application for consent to build the SkyTower.

    SkyCity took a commercial decision in the early 1990’s to swap the sites to get their consents sooner and thus get their Casino and Tower built and open much quicker (or at all), and with it they entered a marriage (of convenience) with ACC.

    But it is a marriage that they are still bound to honour even today, no matter how distasteful that now is to the current SkyCity management and its shareholders.

    If SkyCity want to walk away from that binding arrangement 22 years later, then I say, that’s fine – like a marriage splut up, there are many costs and downstream effects of ending it – and in my mind if thats what SkyCity want to do then AC can simply in turn revoke the consent they have for their buildings on their current site as SkyCity are breaching the consent rules.

    And SkyCity can find an alternative site to operate from at their leisure – with all the costs and inconvenience that that may cause them e.g. possible closure of casino while a transfer of their license to operate a casino to a new site is obtained (- probably from a less casino friendly government than the current one).

    I agree that the current terminal is an eyesore and a pedestrian nightmare, but thats solely because SkyCity have set out to make it so from the get go with their design and woeful attitude to anything not related to their core business of gambling.

    This attitude of “we can change our bet after the cards have been dealt” is not just unique to Sky City, the Hilton Hotel also has similar attitude over their obligation to provide public access to the viewing area at the end of the Wharf. And there are other examples of other building who are required by their consent to provide public access but consistently deny this right to the public for all sorts of vague reasons, none of which actually matter or hold water.

    The current managers of these institutions may not have been the party that agreed to the deal or resource consent conditions, but their forebears did, and their agreement is legally binding on all parties going forward. Its a legal contract, so suck it up guys and deliver what you’re supposed to.

    So if SkyCity want the bus terminal moved off their site, the ball is squarely in their court to come up with a proposal to all of Auckland (through AC) to show where and why its a better option, *and* to pay for all the costs of moving it itself.
    There is no way that Rate Payers of Auckland should be expected to pay a cent for SkyCity change of mind – unless it can be shown that the outcome is massively to Auckland residents advantage.and even then, SkyCity still have to pay their full share of costs before AC has to chip in its share.

    If they don’t like that idea, then tough. to them I say the same as they’d say to anyone who lost money in their casino “You willingly placed your bet – and you lost – there is no “backsies” here.”.

    So SkyCity we’re listening, whats your plan for the (re)moval of the Bus Terminal?

    1. A huge +1

      I thought that the same resource consent constraint is present for the Sky City theatre which I have heard murmurings that they would also like to walk away from

  19. Britomart seems obvious but there is a lack of room so a no go (maybe they should have one for the more expensive underground bus terminal)

    Another option would be to use one of the wharfs (ie the cruise ship terminal) but this would be a sad use of the space. However, opening it up and by bringing people down, it may actually create permanent business in the area reinvigorating it???

    That leaves a (underground) terminal built in conjunction with the aotea stop. With the CRL operation, they maybe able to re prioritise the lights such that the busses have easy access to the motor ways in all directions from the top of town.

    As far as naked bus goes, forgot about them using the terminal – if it costs money, they will avoid it.

    1. Building on what Harvey said, in the longer term how about building the bus terminal on top of Aotea Station? The current plan is to backfill on top of the underground platforms, which seems terribly wasteful of space.
      In the shorter term, could a deal be done to lease (say) the first basement floor of the new tower going in next to SkyCity to use as a bus terminal instead of carparking?

      1. Thats something for SkyCity to organise – its part of their consent after all to provide it, so its up to them to organise a replacement.
        .
        Its not *our* collective job to solve this problem for them and any arrangement has to stack up commercially for all concerned, particularly the rate payers of Auckland who sacrificed an awful lot to allow SkyCity to have that site they have currently got for their Casino and SkyTower..

        You know that the real sad thing is that if SkyCity hadn’t got so desperate to get the Casino license and stayed up at their original site, they’d would have an ideal location for the link into the Newton Station for their Casino and SkyTower and would be the tourist attraction that even the boring tower going up on the old .Royal Hotel site couldn’t match height wise.

      2. They are hardly any backfilling actually, the top of the station roof is only a little under road level.

  20. Wonder if buses could layover somewhere like near the old station, but load/unload somewhere more prominent. All one company so can time departures/arrivals well to only need 1 or 2 stops. Then could use somewhere small.
    Other issue if SkyCity want to get out of this consent condition, they should pay for InterCIty to move somewhere else.
    Seems all a bit late notice if they want to redevelop this as part of the convention centre.

    1. SkyCity would have the pay Auckland Council (and Auckland Transport) for the relocation of the bus terminal. The consent was issued by Auckland City Council. SkyCity might pay Intercity something for goodwill, but from the way it built and runs the space the amount of the money would have to be pretty big to generate any goodwill.

  21. As someone who’s used that Intercity stop quite a few times, generally arriving in Auckland, I can well attest how unfriendly it is. I would agree with Mike’s comments above as to where to put its replacement. Its even more unfriendly Wellington equivalent is at least next to the railway station (or out the front of it for some services).

  22. Somewhere near and around Britomart would be the best location, Sky City is not the best place for it I agree.

  23. The current location does have a few things going for it, but transport connectivity is limited. I wonder if we couldn’t get a connection happening with the Aotea Station, which currently has unused land surrounding it (wide road, carparking).

  24. I saw the original item and couldn’t believe Alex Swney’s comment that the intercity terminal should be on the “edge” of the CBD. Duh! Surely he wants people to be dropped in the centre of the city to support the businesses he is supposed to represent.
    That aside the only place for a proper transport centre in the heart of the city is Britomart. Isn’t that where our only (unfortunately) inter-city train terminates?
    The original mega-Britomart was supposed to be just that. As we have to tear down the Downtown Mall for the CRL, now is the chance to make things right and build a proper transport centre utilising the old mall site. This would provide a one-stop centre for all trains, buses, both suburban and inter-city and eliminate the hotchpotch of CBD bus terminals we have now. Mid-town and Up-town commuters looking to catch a bus would simply take a short trip on the CRL to Britomart then catch their bus from there.
    It could have rail on the bottom level, an underground level above rail for buses, and a surface level for more buses, including the Queen Street block between Customs and Quay plus the mall site and QEII square land.

    1. For some reason they want buses, and bus passengers, to go away and not come to the CBD any more. Strange given that 40% of everyone in town gets there by bus.

    2. I dont think the mall will agree to an integrated bus terminal and probably right as it would impact on the walkability of the area (outward facing shops etc would have to removed to have buses entrances etc).

      But how about turning lower Albert into a bus only road like lower Queen? This would open up this area and would also help to move traffic away from Quay Street which I understand is another goal of people on this site.

  25. How about one of the wharves? Why not have an intercity bus terminal at the start of Queens or Marsden/Captain Cook Wharf? Ferry, bus and train, all together ready to take travelers to their next stop, also servicing those lucrative cruise ship passengers. Also, this part of town could link via bus lanes to SH16 (port extension), giving intercity buses hassle free access to the motorway network without crossing the city.

    Britomart probably needs a re-design. It’s appalling that it is pretty much at capacity, and most of our city bus routes don’t even terminate there. A transport network needs a hub, not a wild and confusing distribution across an entire CBD.
    It’s always puzzled my why all our bus stations have buses park end-to-end, when all those busy cities in the world figured out long ago that parking the buses parallel can get you a lot more transfer in the same area (See: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Bath_Bus_Station_First_66729_WX54XCO_42910_WX05RVU.jpg).

    Otherwise, our best bet would be to look at integrating something in to one of the new stations – Aotea being the most central.

    1. Britomart is being looked at for the New Network. Don’t think one massive interchange is the answer, the city sees something like 400 buses an hour at peak. That’s a massive facility. Better to do what they are doing and ensure every route connects to every other, but not necessarily all in the same place.

      1. Yes, agree, we don’t want Britomart to be a bus-filled wasteland, either. It seems like the best option for inter-city travellers, though.

        1. We already had that situation (bus filled wasteland).20 or so years ago, don’t need a repeat thanks.

          Since it appears that Intercity and the other bus operators don’t co-operate (see legal action recently between InterCity and Naked Bus over something minor), then why build then a dedicated/common facility – some will refuse to use it, or complain their stops are inferior to the opposition.
          And then wnat? Go park somewhere else.

          I think the first action point is to call all the bus operators together and have them table their requirements and preferences, and have them all agree that whatever council builds they’ll all use it.

          Without that consensus and agreement in place you’re wasting time and money doing anything.

  26. Good to have a discussion but unless SkyCity is willing to foot the bill then there’s also no real rush, as it was a legal requirement that they build and host it, they simply want to push those walls out to increase the casino floor space. I very much doubt they have any intention to activate the area.

    Too many developers accept the bonus floor space for things like public viewing platforms and walkways, and immediately close them off once the development is complete. I assume because there’s no real enforcement measure and council lacks any tooth to do anything about it.

    1. I, for one, would love council to review all public access thoroughfares that have been stipulated as per building consents and make sure conditions for these are being adhered to as intended by the consents.

  27. I agree with you there Bryce. I also agree with Harvey Specter’s comment that inter-city buses should ideally terminate at lower albert street, just like lower queen, this makes a lot of sense if it takes place after the CRL cut-and-cover has been finished. Problem is, sky city probably want the buses out of Hobson within the next 1-2 years, and the CRL definitely wont be in and finished by then! So the old railways station is our next best option.

    Before dismissing the Old Railway Station, take a moment to consider it is no further from Britomart than the current Sky City Terminal, really handy to the port exit of the motorway, which is important for the operators, and also right next to Vector Arena. I would imagine quite a few people would bus up to Auckland for concerts with a terminal so handy to their venue.

    1. SkyCity can “wish” all they like for the buses to be gone, but they have a legal requirement as per their consent to provide facilities for them, so they’ll have to wait until *THEY* provide a better option to the rate payers of Auckland.

  28. Well said Greg N 3May 7.07pm. The editor of the Herald appears to have chipped in to help the Sky City CEO, Sat 3 May. I wrote (published today 9 May) reminding him of the original purchase and designation of the Sky City site as a Western Bus Terminal. I also reckoned that the present InterCity site was great for buses getting out to the motorways, and I concluded that if Sky City wanted to be rid of the InterCity terminal, then Sky City should be the ones to pay, not the public purse, again. The land-swap and bus-terminal deal was an early Private-Public Partnership before the term was invented. Is that what happens to PPPartnerships ? If you no longer agree with the Public part of the Partnership then get rid of it, at Public expense ? This is not cheek, it’s greed.

    1. Thanks Graham,
      And I invite you and your readers to consider the opportunity cost to Auckland City, and now, via the Super City, the wider Auckland region, for the loss of the valuable western bus terminal.

      If we still had that we;d have had land ready for an alternative to buses for Africa around Britomart,we’ve got now – would be in a prime spot for the Aotea station integration.

      And what you may ask, did the old ACC get for the (now) prime land they swapped, why 5 beans, in the form of waste land up near the old Winstones building on Khyber Pass road.Left over from the motorway building splurge in the 70’s and 80s.

      And what did ACC do with the land? Why they let Sky City dump its diggings from the Sky Tower excavations on it, then smoothed it over and sold the land off for low-rise/low density housing.to some developer who came a knocking. Who then put up a whole lot of leaky buildings, which if I recall cost the council a bundle in legal costs and other fees to settle that up, after the developer had done a runner.

      That land was considered by all and sundry as so useless for anything except a monster “Sky Tower” that even ACC couldn’t see any practical use for it so got rid of it pronto after they’d back filled it with diggings.

      Talk about a lose-lose-lose-lose-lose-lose.propposition, and now Sky City is back, wants us to triple down again with an even bigger bet by letting them walk away from their end of the deal thatcost us so much.

      Yeah Right – fool me once shame on me, try to fool me more than once – shame on you -.Sky City.

  29. Growing up in Auckland, I remember the depot at the railway station, and to support local – I caught a bus from skycity, last week to go down country. What a mess I have to say. I wasnt really sure if the 6 seats were to accomodate me or not? Crossing the small driveway with a child is not only not-fun, but dangerous. Having travelled worldwide I was not sure if I was embarrased, as this was my home city, or just stumped and wondering if this was a temporary base. Is this what we have presented our visitors with over a number of goodness knows how many years? Come on Auckland, these are covid times – can we clean up our act?, or steralise at least, and have some security there for the passengers and more seating. Was so nice to call into the little towns and see what nice terminals they have. After all a lot of us locals are using the services right now, and the Auckland base is well below standard. Thank goodness we still have our awesome bus drivers though. They are still the best drivers.

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