Train Bus Interchange. Looked to me like was working pretty sweetly. Quite a bit of Kiss’n’Ride going on on the northern side, car drop off, as you’d expect for a reasonably far enough out station in such an auto-dependent city. And, rather like New Lynn, this station feels somewhat stranded by roads and not anything like the intensity of land use we all expect to see develop over time.

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But of course those roads bring the buses right to the front door; quite a lot of people seem to be transferring to the trains rather than staying on the bus all the way to the city centre, and Howick and Eastern looked to be doing a good trade to and from the station. It is interesting that H&E have just announced they are buying 15 new double deckers, all with wifi and charging points. It looks like the quality of the new trains has started an quality of service race among providers, along with providing the core of the lift in ridership enabling this sort of investment and upgrade; win win win.

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Looking forward to the next Interchanges at Otahuhu and Manukau that are funded to start this year. However the really spectacular upgrade for SE Auckland will be the Bus Rapid Transit part of AMETI which will connect this station with Botany, Pakuranga, and hopefully Highland Park with bus priority [construction start 2017]. Won’t be too long before we have new and much better options for getting around our city.

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28 comments

  1. Great to see investment in a station out this way. The crossing at Glen Innes is much better than it used to be but the station is still a diabolical mess. I hope a refresh is on AT’s list of to-dos at some stage.

  2. Looking excellent. The intensity will happen once AMETI is fully functional and the Roundabout of Doom is reconfigured.

    Integrated ticketing, if it ever comes, will be even more transformational.

  3. I often pass Panmure from the south by train in the mornings and it invariably has the biggest crowds on the platform waiting to board of anywhere on the “via GI” line.

  4. It needs a pedestrian bridge or quality crossing to the Panmure town center main streets. At the moment it is very difficult and discouraging to walk to the train station from the town centre.

    1. That’s what the next stage of AMETI is for when the roundabout is removed – that has zebra crossings on raised platforms over Jellicoe Rd and a similar crossing over Queens Road. My little contribution, was taken up by the designers after I suggested it during a CAA feedback. Lets hope they stick around / get further improved on the way to the final actual construction.

      Image from the AMETI team below.

      http://img.scoop.it/hToVQ65hRYeBV55K80VkuYXXXL4j3HpexhjNOf_P3YmryPKwJ94QGRtDb3Sbc6KY

  5. Jumped on bus at Ti Rakau within 30 sec wait, then got off at Panmure Electric Train within 3 minutes, then you also views of waterfront at Orakei, plus amazing amount of hot women, actually thinking about it, no nothing to see here guys stay in your cars!!

  6. Patrick, are you sure there is no Photoshop in that first image? Looks like it’s an Architects’ schematic of things to come a la Precinct’s laneway picture published yesterday. nice work

  7. Great station however only one escalator up to the station from the Manukau bound platform makes people restless when they are trying to catch a bus from it and people are blocking it. I think a “driver please wait a train has just arrived” light at the platform would be quite handy.ste

    1. Is it case it just needs some signage to ask people to stand to the right, and left side is for those “passing” by.

      Or is the escalator too narrow for that concept to work? Seems to work at Britomart escalators though.

      1. A mixture of both. I think it’s more because it’s a surge of people no other option unless you take the lift which is of no help if you see your bus pull up while stuck behind people.

  8. I wouldn’t be too worried about road bound, or low rise around the station. A good bus system can pull in thousands more pax than just the walk-ups who might have come…except in a downtown city station where walk-ups will be dominant.

  9. Did you notice that Platform 3 was like 50 metres long and you’re not sure where the bus is going to stop, and you have to run to the bus when it comes, and sometimes you can’t even see if the bus is coming because there is another bus in the way?

  10. First – its great to have a transfer station compared to the situation a few years ago where the closest bus stop required bus passengers to go around the roundabout after getting off a bus from Howick.

    Two moans about kerb details.

    The concrete planters at the kiss-n-ride parking make stopping a car on a single marked space without reversing a virtual impossibility. Usually kiss n ride behaviour is to occupy two spaces – what is worst they force pedestrians to walk out between parked cars. If the planters weren’t there parking would be easier, allowing car overhang over the kerb and would allow pedestrians to use the footpath projections as a refuge before crossing clear of the parked cars.

    The tree planted on the kerb on Mountain Road closest to the Potaka Lane intersection forces cars to stop well past the “stop” line on Potaka Lane if the driver is to correctly halt so that he/she has sightlines to the south on Mountain Road. This tree isn’t decades old. Can it be moved?

  11. Just been out to double check those planters. The main problem for motorists is the squareness of the kerb containing the planters. A little curving at the corners would have made the parking areas much more motorist friendly. In this place that isn’t unreasonable as the car passenger is also using PT.

    1. Not having any idea what you’re talking about but perhaps the planters are there to stop typical motorist behaviour of parking on the footpth and taking up having the footpath by hanging their car nose or ass way over the curb. Drive up kiss n ride is not what should be encouraged here so shouldn’t be a priority. Cars are extremely well served in the area. In comparison infrastructure for people arriving by bike is basically non-existent.

  12. The 11.57 scheduled arrival was a couple of minutes late, The 552 bus left on time, about two minutes ahead of the passengers getting off the train. Not a good connection!

    1. This is only solved by having frequent enough services that the wait is never too long, delaying services because of a late train isn’t ideal. Would have been good for you but no one else catching the bus elsewhere. So in fact, it’s an example of how a system should be, buses leaving exactly when they should which is unusual in Auckland from my experience.

  13. I apologise for the late comment, but I am really amazed at how good this interchange looks. I left Auckland in 2011 and works had just started there. I used to take the train back when the station was all the way down with an exit at Ireland road (where I used to get off and walk up to Queens Road to catch the bus to East Auckland), and the level of improvements in the area are astounding. I wonder if anyone has pictures of the really old station when it was nothing more than a shabby platform with a very rickety footbridge to what we see today.

    EDIT: Take a look here and see how much things have changed!

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamespole/80131745/in/pool-71202032@N00-85905899@N00

  14. My husband Malifa Posenai work there as Security guard on Mon to Saturday at 6am to 6pm . I have been there to catch the Train to go home to Manurewa.The Panmure Train Railway Station look nice now for 2015.

    1. Hi Jo and Malifa,

      Thanks for both dropping by. Yes Panmure is what a 21st century transport hub should be like. And hopefully the coming Otahuhu train/bus station will be even better than Panmure is.
      And that should be built starting later this year open mid next year.

      And Malifa, thank you for keeping your eyes on the train station during the weekdays and weekends. Its an important job and often its a thankless one too – as people hurry in and out as they go about their business.

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