Crowding on peak public transport is a well known occurrence in Auckland. This is a rather complex issue to fix due to bus congestion in the city, and high cost of adding extra buses and drivers to run one service a day. Working on bus lanes to improve efficiency and addition of double deckers is the best way to fix this issue.

However we are now seeing regular reports come in of crowding on off-peak services, notably on evenings and weekends. Even on popular inner isthmus routes, evening and weekend services are still stuck in a bygone era, not recognising that the city centre is now far from an 8am to 5pm destination. Weekend services also haven’t been updated to reflect the popularity of the CBD on the weekends and the regular special events that draw people in, especially over summer. Sunday services are usually a lower frequency than Saturday services, which may have been fine when the shops were all closed on Sundays, however it is not appropriate in 2014.

Services at off-peak times should also be able to be added relatively cheaply, as they just involve using existing buses and drivers more often, rather than pushing the need for extra buses and drivers. In some cases the issues may be able to be helped by running larger buses, instead of leaving these sitting in the depot at weekends.

They key services than seem to suffer the most from overcrowding issues are Dominion Road, Mount Eden Road, Tamaki Drive and the Northern Express.

Mount Eden Road

The issues on Mount Eden Road seem to largely come from the sparse evening services. Services drop from 15 minute frequency to 30 minutes after 9pm, which is much too early.

Mt Eden evening timetable
Mt Eden Road weekday evening timetable

This tweet from last Monday night shows the high demand for evening Mt Eden Road buses.

Andrew W 277 Monday

And from Julie Anne Genter last month, this time on a Tuesday night.

JAG Mt Eden Road

A few extra 274 services to give at 15 minute frequency until 11pm or so would probably sort the issues. An extra service at 12.10am would probably be popular as well.

Dominion Road

The issues on Dominion Road come from both evening and weekend day time services. Buses are often so full that they are leaving people behind, which is unacceptable.

On Saturdays buses run the 258 and 267 run at a 20 minute frequency, giving a 10 minute frequency along Dominion Road from Mount Roskill. However this doesn’t seem to be enough to meet demand.

Geogoose Saturday

However on Sunday the timetable is totally archaic, and belongs in the 1970’s. The 258 and 267 both run every 40 minutes, only giving a 20 minute service all day.

Dom Rd Sunday timetable

This is certainly not nearly enough to meet demand. This tweet from last Sunday shows this results in packed buses leaving people behind.

Kate Dom Rd Sunday

This tweet from a couple of weekends ago shows this is a regular occurrence.

Geogoose DomRd Sunday

Evening services are also an issue. I heard that Dominion Road buses were leaving people behind at the Symonds Street bridge last Friday night, and am told this is common.

Some of the issues seem to arise from the use by NZ Bus of small ADL Enviro 200 buses, which have much lower seating capacity than the bigger buses available. This is very poor customer service from NZ Bus, as they are sure to have plenty of empty large buses sitting at the depot on weekends, however choose to run small buses to save on operating costs. This is unacceptable.

Tamaki Drive

On nice days in summer the 15 mintue frequency and small ADL buses used on the service cannot handle the demand for trips to Mission Bay. Last Sunday afternoon I saw a bus packed full of people leaving town, and this meant it could not stop at the first stop on Quay Street near Countdown to pick up more beachgoers. I have heard this is a common occurrence on summer weekends.

James Pole MIssion Bay

Again NZ Bus is causing issues by running small ADL 200 buses on these services when larger buses are available.

Northern Express

Northern Express services running on weekends and evenings are often seen to be at capacity. The timetable for weekends and evenings has not been updated since May 2011, despite major patronage growth since this time. Buses leave Britomart every 15 minutes from 7pm to midnight, however demand seems to outstrip this. The NEX needs to run at 10 minute frequency for another hour or 2 to cope with the patronage.

As an example this was the queue for the NEX at 7.40pm last Thursday, nearly 50 people long.

B2TU_bPCcAAE7B4.jpg-large

And this is the bus leaving at 7.45pm. These 10 people were left behind as the bus was full of standing passengers.

B2TWrv9CUAAaKhr.jpg-large

Weekend frequency is also an issue. All day weekend frequency is every 15 minutes. However I have regularly seen buses leaving the city full of standing passengers. At a 15 minute frequency the Northern Express cannot handle special events. This is a scene from the Auckland marathon just over a 2 weeks ago where a surge in patronage left the NEX unable to cope.

Nick R NEX wknd

This suggests the Northern Express needs its frequency upgraded to 10 minutes on weekends, at least for the busiest parts of the day.

I am keen to hear more reports from readers about issues with public transport overcrowding, including stories that both confirm the above reports, as well as issues on other services that they have come across.

Fixing these issues would help raise public confidence in the bus system, and ensure people catching a bus have a good experience. It would also provide a great boost to public transport patronage.

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46 comments

  1. Also, along with the improved timetable, maybe invest in double-deckers, modern articulated buses and improve the layout of those ADL 200s.

        1. and most of the peak runs they get put on like Dominion, Mt Eden, 881, and so on.
          Be ok for frequent suburban routes like the South Auckland new network where reasonable demand all day and lighter peaks.

        2. The new 4 wheelers for Urban Express and Ritchies look much bigger. Maybe similar seating capacity, but at least their is more space inside.

        3. I think this was a old ‘Road users’ issue where at a certain point, it was more cost efficient to add an axle as the road user charges were less. I think the new rules no longer make this an issue so you will start seeing more, longer 2 axled buses.

          The ADL200 were probably purchased to come within the old road users weight/axle limits.

        4. An additional axle takes them from requiring a Class 2 licence (rigid, no more than two axles and gross vehicle mass greater than 6,500kg, or GVM less than 18,001kg on more than two axles) to requiring a Class 4 licence (rigid, GVM greater than 18,000kg on more than two axles). That reduces the number of drivers who can operate those buses, particularly as drivers who came through with an old ‘F’ Class licence from the paper licences (which were grandfathered through to Class 4) age their way into retirement and new drivers have to progress through classes 1, 2, then 4, with time spent in each class before being allowed to apply for the next class.

        5. Zane Fulljames of NZ Bus has commented before that they were brought with the intention of being used once the new network rolls out. it sounded like the they would be used for the smaller routes while larger buses for the busier routes. In other words we need the new network rolled out so bus companies can better match buses to demand.

    1. Lots of talk about double deckers coming soon. Understand a few more for NEX are due this month or so. Mt Eden supposed to get them end of the year, but needed money on verandah work. Latest news suggested they were instead coming next on Botany services next year sometime.
      With new contracts as part of new network AT should be bale to mandate minimum bus sizes, hopefully can mandate 3 axle buses on most isthmus routes, and double deckers on NEX, 881, Dominion, Mt Eden etc.

  2. My last bus, 955 to Bayview, leaves Victoria St at 11pm on Saturdays and 10.15pm on Sundays. So if you are attending an event in the city you have take your car which is fine until you have a few drinks. Obviously it is cheaper to repair mangled bodies and wrecked cars than put on a few extra buses.. Tell that to Auckland Hospital and the Insurance council.

    1. The early evening services are full before they leave Victoria St leaving passengers stranded at lower Albert St and Victoria Park.

  3. With routes like the NEX and Dominion Rd, what is a rough frequency/demand whereby we need to start the conversation about rail/trams? I realise that is years away for both but would be interested in projections.

    I guess there are things to do on places like Dom Rd re semi-permanent bus lanes and with the NEX, increasing frequency. But has the horse bolted? If we make the changes, will the services just get swamped again and its effectively a lot of cost for what will be, in a relatively short space of time, an ineffectual solution?

  4. Onewa Rd buses are also very full on Saturday mornings. I caught one a few weeks back just before 8am, and by the time we reached motorway, there was absolutely no room (seats and standing) at all. The driver was very good and kept asking people to move back a lot.

    On another note, there was survey done on another bus I took recently (881, I think), and the survey has asked if there were sufficient seats on my bus. I think they’re completely missing the point, because 2 previous buses didn’t stop at all – they were “FULL”. They shouldn’t be asking about seats left, they should be asking about standing spaces left!!! In fact I think it’s about time the bus operators should start removing a few seats in the front or middle of the bus to make space for standees. A cheap way of making more space in the buses. Not sure how that would go with the certification of maximum passengers allowed though…

  5. is the issue a lack of drivers? I’ve been seeing the “hiring now” signs in the buses since I moved here nearly 5 years ago.

  6. I know there is currently a shortage of truck drivers so there may also be a bus driver shortage. I thought alot of bus drivers worked split shifts so would jump at the chance to do off peak work and finish earlier.

  7. Dominion road is frequently full at peak as well, with buses driving past or leaving people behind at the city. Not just full, but near Tokyo level packed quite commonly. This has been normal for quite some time now, even with buses running at better than 5min frequency at peak.

    In the face of all this demand for PT, for some unfathomable reason Auckland’s response seems to be to ration it instead of piling more and more on. Clearly people want to use it, to the point where – literally – they are queuing up round the block for it.

  8. It would also provide revenue for the bus companies, who have large amounts of spare vehicle capacity.

    What are the practical constraints? What are the things that might give Auckland Transport actual reason to hold back while they have overcrowded bus services?

    1. It would provide revenue but also more cost. Short term thinking but profit would be higher if you leave 1-10 people behind compared to putting on an extra bus. Also you dont just add on one bus trip unless that can be tagged on to the end of an existing shift (driver hours, etc would have to be considered). If you have to create a new shift, then you need a new driver who would want to work a minimum of 3 hours(?).

      AT should be doing the long term thinking. With the new ticketing machines, they have access to load data on a daily basis. If two consecutive buses are regularly at capacity, they should be requiring an extra bus be put on. They may have to subsidise it in the short term but over time, it will pay off.

      It isn’t a chicken and egg situation. You cant have more passengers if you dont have the capacity to carry them. You must increase capacity before you increase passengers.

  9. @Anthony – they’re (almost certainly) coming, just don’t ask when.

    @Luke C – I think the ADLs might be narrower hence less space inside ?

    @lloyd c – absolutely, but the evening peak trips currently done by the split shift drivers would still need doing and realistically you can’t find people to do that much overtime day after day after day.

    So, is everybody looking forward to trying to get home from the Santa Parade in a couple of weeks on the Sunday timetable ?

    😀

  10. It isn’t just a matter of using existing buses and drivers to increase offpeak frequency. Drivers have maximum hours, set breaks requirements that have to be logged which impacts on this.

    I understand there is a shortage of good drivers. Wages are just short of $20 from my understanding.

  11. Another low-cost fix might be to remove seats from the buses to increase their capacity. I have seen seating layouts overseas (Istanbul) with each row having just two seats, one on each side by the windows. The rest of the space is a wide central aisle packed with standees. Not pretty, but a lot cheaper than the capex required for bigger buses or new bus lanes.

    1. That is fine for short trips but even on the link, I like to get a seat so I can read easily. For longer trips, removal of seats would also discourage people for catching a bus.

      @NIck – wouldn’t think so as the number of seats is determined by the lenght of the bus (and the seat pitch). The number of standing might be linked to the number of seated though? (I don think you could remove all seats and turn a 50 seater (plus 10 standing) into a 120 standing!)

  12. Will Auckland Transport as the contracting agency insist that their service provider immediately deploy the available bigger vehicles from its fleet? Are there no service quality measures which cover leaving keen passengers stranded at the roadside?

    1. I’m not sure if there is and not sure how it would be measured. Most Service quality relates to standard of bus and being on schedule.

    2. I don’t think that the KPI that are being used would have ever envisaged needing to measure left behind.

      I doubt when the metrics were generated that leaving people behind was an issue, although now it certainly seems as it is.

    3. There are quite possibly issues for NZ Bus in being able to get drivers for all of the big buses. See my comment above about the implications of larger buses with a third axle. Class 4 drivers with a ‘P’ endorsement don’t fall from the sky.

  13. I catch Dominion Road buses at varying times most days, and find them fine off-peak (5 min frequency) and acceptable at rush hour (2-3 minute frequency). Evening service are rediculously overcrowded however – from 7pm, services drop to just one every 10 minutes, causing overcrowding for nearly the next hour; but then the frequency drops to every 20 minutes at 9pm, after which you will usually have standees on every bus right up to the last one at 12am.

    The big problem with this is that there is no redundancy: if one bus after 9pm is cancelled, there will be 120 people waiting 20 minutes later when the next one arrives, and many of those will have to wait for the next bus. So, for example, if you turn up at 10:05pm at the Wakefield Street stop, and the 10:20pm bus is cancelled; you wont get onto the 10:40 bus either, as it will have been filled at Queen Street. You will end up waiting on a dark city street for an hour unless you make other arrangements.

    I have had a friend in this situation before – I find it completely unacceptable

    1. I’ve found the weekday services between around 10 and 4 to be generally very good, even by non-Auckland standards. A bus every 5 minutes which is usually not overcrowded. And they’re reliable, presumably because there’s not too much traffic then.

      It feels like there is a similar number of people travelling after 7pm and on weekends, but just on buses with much reduced frequency and subsequent overcrowding and lowered freedom for passengers. Not sure what’s special about daytime weekdays that allows the services to be put on versus nights and weekends.

      Sometimes I wonder if there’s someone in charge who thinks we should all be in bed after 7 or mowing the lawns on Sunday.

      1. I think it is just inertia. Always done things that way. Should be largely fixed with new network having 7 day a week operating pattern. New network plans also show inner isthmus services having 15 minute evening frequency too (2 times 15 minutes on Dominion Road), though not sure if this means until the end of the evening or not. However this is likely to be something like 2 years before full roll-out. So should bring forward that a couple of years.

  14. I often ride City to Glenfield Mall during the day in the weekend and the busses are busy despite a maximum wait of 50 minutes! Surely they can justify busses at least 1/2 hourly.

  15. Yes, I reckon it is a good timing to update the timetable along with the new rail timetable.

    As a side note, on special event such as lantern festival. The bus cannot cope with the people and many people are left queuing in the bus station for 1-2 hours still couldn’t get on the bus (only 2 buses per hour)
    Whats worse is some people couldn’t make it to the last bus because of long queue. So they are stuck and cannot get home!

  16. With some trucking companies paying $26 an hour for truck drivers for six wheelers it may mean the pay rates need to increase to attract more drivers.

  17. Don’t worry, AT are onto this issue. A rural bus run entirely outside the MUL commences with hours of 5am to 1am next month, running back and forth between Swanson and Waitakere because somebody absolutely brilliant thinks its a good idea to operate a shuttle that stops short of the much larger Kumeu catchment. Hopefully they’ll use the former AT staff shuttle bus!

    1. Yeah what I don’t understand is why they care about them but not users from Forrest Hill Road who are just plain loosing their service in the new western network, quite a double standard from AT.

  18. Two thoughts.
    1. I get the feeling AT are in a bit of a limbo state right now where they don’t want to make too many changes to the bus network as they are waiting for the new network to roll out which will change resource allocations a lot. That likely means a few more years of pain while it all happens.

    2. While this is more about weekend buses when increasing frequency would solve the issue, I wonder that the point is where it becomes better to go for bigger buses over more frequency, when frequencies get to 5 mins, 10 mins?

  19. Figured that might have been the case, but when you have people begin left behind maybe chance to add a few services. Think all the routes are on one year rollover anyway, so must be negotiated another once or twice before new network.
    And yeh not too much point increasing frequency beyond 5-7 minutes. Most inner isthmus bus routes run at these frequencies along the core routes so really do need to move to bigger buses.

  20. Archaic is mild compared to the language that some of us use to describe the buses along Dominion Rd on Sunday mornings as we attempt to get to work before 9am. There are two buses that will get you there, half an hour apart. When we had repeated complaints about missing buses because they came too early or late the response from AT was to change the timetable to ‘ better reflect actual travelling times ‘, but still keeping the half hourly service. This was fine 35 years ago when all people did was to go to church but is hardly applicable today when we live in a city where many people work erratic hours including Sundays.

  21. What does your bus fare cover?

    Does it pay for you to have a seat – so should you get a discount if you have to stand?
    Does it pay for you to catch the first bus that turns up – so should you get a discount if you can’t catch the first bus?

    If it started costing AT or the bus companies to fail these KPIs that they are not even measuring, perhaps their behaviour would change.

  22. So, we can induce public transport use (build it and they will come), right? But of course we don’t need buses at 4am or 5am, we need more buses at night. Which means those starting work early e.g. cleaners, industrial workers, are punished, but the office worker bourgeois who start and finish later are WELLL catered for

    1. Well just how full are the buses at 5.30 in the morning currently? Because your bourgeoise are filling up buses at 10pm to standing room already. That bodes a lot better for more later service than it does for more early. But hey, just an evil conspiracy to punish the proletariat right? …or maybe there’s just a much larger market for travel in the evenings than at 4am.

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