The City Rail Link gets a step closer tomorrow as the next round of changes for the city centre kick in as work ramps up to the start of construction.

The biggest changes will see all of the bus stops around Britomart move.

Changes are coming to bus services in downtown Auckland from this Sunday 17 April.

Construction work is about to start on the City Rail Link (CRL) and this affects bus services on Albert St and lower Queen St in particular.

AT Metro Bus Services Manager, Brendon Main says Auckland Transport is moving bus stops now to minimise disruption to passengers.

“Some parts of the downtown area are being closed off so we are have to move some buses. On our website we have set-up an interactive map which will help people find if their service is affected and where it departs from.”

Auckland Transport also has signs at bus stops in the area and will have ambassadors at stops to help customers.

Mr Main says Auckland Transport wants to make it as easy as possible for passengers but this is a big change and will need some patience.

“The CRL is the biggest construction programme ever in the central city so there will be some disruption during the construction phase. At the same time there is a lot of building work going on in Albert St so the buses will have to work around this.

“All we can ask is that people follow the signage and talk to ambassadors so that we can make this as easy as possible for our customers.”

The changes to routes and stops are shown below

Arriving

CRL Bus changes map arrival

Departing

CRL Bus changes map departure

There are a few other changes to such as to the 020/005 and 991x/992x routes. There is also an interactive map showing where stops are moving from/to.

I’m sure there is bound to be some confusion and teething issues while these changes bed in so I won’t be surprised to hear about issues come Monday morning but hopefully the issues will be minor.

Perhaps somewhat ironically (or depending on your view perhaps appropriately), as one of the biggest supporters of the CRL I’m also one of the most impacted by these changes. I work in Takapuna and pass through the city to get there. The first round of changes back in October last year removed direct buses to Takapuna from near Britomart resulting in me requiring an additional transfer to get to/from work and now buses from Britomart will be a little further away. But as frustrating as it can be at times, I’m also acutely aware of just how important and transformation the CRL will be.

In addition to bus stop changes, also going live tomorrow are (finally) bus lanes on Queen St which turned green 1-2 days ago.

Other recent changes include the closure of the underpass at Britomart which needs to be removed so the CRL tunnels can be built. It’s not being reinstated as after the CRL is finished the space outside the station will be a public plaza so there will be no buses to dodge.

Britomart Underpass Closed

I’m looking forward to the actual construction work starting. I’m not sure just yet of the exact date but I believe it is likely to be within the next month or so. I believe the demolition of the Downtown Shopping mall starts early June.

Combined with all of the other work going on in the city it’s certainly a busy time.

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10 comments

  1. As an 020 [the otto] and Inner link user I’m well pleased with the changes, the otto looks to now have a better city route regardless of the construction work; on bus lanes on Queen St; should have always been thus:

    https://at.govt.nz/media/1705351/005-020-and-020x-route-and-stop-map.pdf

    Of course I am aware of the long standing antipathy to buses on Queen St from retailers with their bone-headed yet persistent belief that only drivers buy things and that buses are an evil that must be elsewhere… as all the evidence shows that reducing private vehicles in the city [particularly Queen St] and increase in Transit use correlates strongly with improved retail sales perhaps this old superstition will no longer be afforded the seriousness that it traditionally has from the authorities at Council and AT?

  2. Was in CBD today 3 issues/suggestions

    1. Bus lanes don’t even go at least to mayoral
    2. Left turning off Queen is still allowed so bus lanes will get clogged by left turning traffic.
    3. Turn those nice parking slots into bike parking creating lots of bike storage on Queen.

    1. Exactly, these are all issues that have been raised on here multiple times. The bus lanes are half-asses and reflect AT’s car first priority. For me personally, the inner link has been fairly hopeless since being moved to Queen Street, because of being stuck in single occupant vehicles. It’s a problem that could have been easily solved by AT yet for some reason they never want to give transit the priority it deserves.

  3. The problem with Queen Street is that it is one of the few thoroughfares for traffic from downtown to K Road and beyond. There is Anzac Ave only on the east side, and Albert Street only on the west side with Hobson Street and Nelson Streets little more than motorway on and off ramps. Sort out that problem and there is no reason why Queen Street needs to be used as a traffic thoroughfare at all.

    1. A solution to there only being Anzac Ave and Albert St for people to use might be for people to use Anzac Ave and Albert St. Why do we need something else?

  4. I don’t think AT are pro car, I just think AT are Pu**ies when it comes to pissing off people who will complain to the herald lol

  5. Great to see the bus lanes along Queen Street. I’d like to see the bus drivers using them wherever possible. They seem to be all over the road.

    1. Not sure you can/should be too hard on the drivers here. There’s good reason why a driver may want to jump into other lane when there’s a bus lane, e.g. turning right up ahead and/or avoiding vehicles queued/stopped in lane.

      1. Yeah. Too many options for drivers do curdle the bus routes. Again I feel the need to say these bus lanes will remain suboptimal until the right hand turns are removed from Victoria and Wellesley [Wyndam too].

        There should be continuous bus lanes, uninterrupted by left turning general traffic, with the buses getting a bus advance signal to clear the left hand lane allowing the succeeding general traffic to cross across this now cant lane from the general traffic lane on their green signal.

      2. Yep, appreciate the need for buses to move to right turn lanes. Not sure this was the case while observing on Saturday morning with little general traffic. Should just get some trams back down there on Queen Street.

        To Patrick’s point, the few times I’m driving along Albert Street I’m turning left onto Wyndham across the bus lane. I’m always looking out for the buses, last thing I want is to be hit by one. Maybe a bus signalling system would help for all.

        How’s the PhD going, Stu? I’m considering starting one soon (also economics) if I can sort out my finances. What’s your research area?

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