Last year Auckland Transport piloted allowing bikes on a few NX1 buses to provide a connection across the harbour. They’ve now announced that from next month the trial will expand and more buses will be equipped with racks.
Second phase of bikes in buses trial begins – cyclists can now cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge
Auckland Transport (AT) is gearing up for the next phase of its bikes in buses trial from July 2025, aiming to make public transport more flexible, and enable a variety of active modes of travel.
Following a successful pilot in November 2024, where two types of internal bike racks were tested on double-decker buses along the Northern Express (NX1) route, AT is expanding the initiative. The pilot demonstrated that integrating bikes with buses is feasible, and of interest to many passengers.
AT’s Head of Public Transport Services Planning & Development Pete Moth says allowing bikes inside buses would mean that AT can provide a consistent service for passengers using Rapid Transit Services, as bikes can already be taken on trains.
“By making it easier for Aucklanders to combine a bike ride and a public transport trip, it provides options for more people to use public transport. This could save many Aucklanders’ time and money and contribute to health and environmental goals.
“Importantly, allowing bikes on the NX1 service gives cyclists a way to cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge, providing a more connected and accessible network,” he says.
What to expect in phase two of the bikes in buses trial
From July 2025, there will be 15 double decker buses on Auckland’s Northern Express (NX1) bus route fitted with a bike rack inside the bus. These bike racks will be available to all cyclists to use.
The preferred bike rack design is a sleek, flip-down space-efficient model with secure bike restraints. Installation is underway through May and June, and racks will be available for use as soon as they’re installed.
Integration with the AT Mobile App will allow users to check in real-time (in the ‘live departures’ section) if an approaching bus has a bike rack onboard. Passengers at NX1 stops and stations will also be able to identify if a bus has a bike rack by the circular green cyclist icon on the front, and the side of the bus.
An important part of this trial is to better understand the experience of cyclists and NX1 bus passengers, so AT is encouraging cyclists and NX1 commuters to share their experiences via an online survey.
Phase two of the trial is expected to run for one year, so that AT can monitor operations across all seasons.
“Ultimately, our aim is to offer a consistent service on all Rapid Transit Services. By allowing passengers to take their bikes on the NX1 service, this is a first step towards bikes being allowed on all of our Rapid Transit bus services, as they can be on trains,” Pete Moth says.
“We hope a successful trial will lead to other Rapid Transit Bus Services (the NX2 and WX1) across Auckland being able to offer a bikes in buses service to cyclists.”
In addition they note
- The trial will run for 12 months, from July 2025, to July 2026.
- 15 Buses with bike racks is about one-third of the total NX1 fleet.
- Because the NX1 runs every 3-15 minutes between Albany and the City Centre, we believe that this will allow for a level of service where cyclists could reliably catch a bus with a bike rack in it.
- Installing a bike rack in a bus requires a number of modifications to the interior of the bus. A few forward-facing seats are removed and replaced with a bike rack and three flip-down seats with arm rests. Additional handrails and safety hangers are installed, as well as the seatbelt-type restraint for bikes.
- The wheelchair accessible space on the bus remains the same, and in fact, ensuring a safe location for bikes in a bus allows AT to address the increasing instances of people parking bikes and scooters in the wheelchair space.
- In preparation for phase 2, we have been working with AT’s Public Transport Accessibility Group (PTAG), Auckland Council’s Universal Design team, Bike Auckland and NX1 bus operator Ritchies to ensure that we deliver a good public transport experience for all NX1 bus passengers and drivers.
- The trial will enable around 250 bike spaces to be available each day on the NX1 bus service.
This is a good development and it’s pleasing to see AT pushing on with this. However, I imagine it’s also something that won’t be very practical at peak times and with only two bikes per bus and only 15 buses with the racks installed it’s certainly not going to be a high capacity option. I also worry some transport officials will then use the results of this trial as justification towards not providing a proper solution.
Buses with bike racks can be identified by a bike symbol and a bike symbol will also be on the buses themselves.
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I wouldn’t have put flip down seats in the same space where bikes go. That can’t end well.
“I imagine it’s also something that won’t be very practical at peak times”
Trying to get the inside bike out of the rack, while the outside bike remains on the bus will be a nightmare,
Even more so on a packed bus at peak…
I’d like to know more about the trade-offs here. The article mentions that this will utilise 1/3 of the available NX1 busses. Additional factors (presumably) are increased dwelling times as cyclists and drivers grope around securing bicycles. Thirdly, you have the allocation of space for the bikes themselves – at the expense of available seating for other passengers.
There is another consideration (applicable to electric bikes only) and that’s safety. Many public transport networks have found themselves forced to ban electric bikes and scooters due to the fire risk that they can pose (a danger that would be exacerbated if the NX1 route used electric busses).
I can only trust that the policy wonks involved have done their homework in this respect. It would be somewhat self-defeating if this purely a measure aimed at addressing the whinging of smelly lycra-clad North Shore cyclists.
“addressing the whinging of smelly lycra-clad North Shore cyclists”
Why the sneer at fellow humans – what have they done to you?
I’ve told you! Whinge and be smelly.
I get stuck behind them on the NW cycle lane in my Ford Ranger all the time (it’s ‘all terrain’ and ‘terrain’ obviously include cycle lanes before you complain).
Really insufferable!
Tam, you should get your HEPA filters looked at. I’m sure your Ford dealer wouldn’t want you suffering from lycra fumes.
It’s outrageous that something is being done that might benefit cyclists, I think you need to up your game and write a letter to the Herald before things get completely out of hand.
Cyclists are not a protected class of people. This trial expansion could be a good thing, but only if the benefits commuters generally.
No they definitely aren’t, you don’t have to spend much time travelling around Auckland to realise that cyclists aren’t very protected at all.
Should we prioritise passengers with bicycles over other public transport users?
Personally, I think we should be doing more to facilitate access to people who are actually vulnerable in a legal sense.
If people with bikes really want to use busses, then they should just get a Brompton bike or similar.
That would require consideration of other public transport users.
Clearly a value in short supply for Takapuna bike fetishists.
Hi Tam, I see below you said “we should be doing more to facilitate access to people who are actually vulnerable in a legal sense.” so I thought perhaps you didn’t know yet that bikes are mobility aids for some people. For me, especially when I have a joint flare up, my bike is a crucial mobility aid. In those moments it hurts to walk, so getting to and from bus stops becomes impossible, and I rely on my ebike for my trips. I can take my bike on trains if I need to get further across the region, but without access for bikes on the NX the North Shore becomes inaccessible for me. This trial is liberating for me, and others like me (you’d be surprised how many of us on 2 wheels are using our bikes as mobility aids, and ebikes have made cycling even more accessible), and significantly increases the types of places we can travel to, and the regularity we can do it with. A folding bike would not provide this same access, because folding it up, carrying it, and unfolding it can be painful or inaccessible for some people (including me, if I’m in a flare up).
“Thirdly, you have the allocation of space for the bikes themselves – at the expense of available seating for other passengers.”
You don’t buy the right to a seat; you buy the right to be transported from A to B.
The point is that buses have capacity limits (this is reflected in the current restriction on bikes being 2 per bus at any time).
The reason for this is because bikes take up space (most people wouldn’t need that pointed out, perhaps you are wearing a tight helmet or your lycra is cutting off the blood supply to several of your important organs).
Also observe AT’s Conditions of Carriage at Clause 4:
4. Vehicle capacity and health and safety:
4.1 We try to provide appropriate Vehicle capacity on our services, but there may be occasions when a Vehicle reaches its legal passenger capacity limit, or a limit required under public health direction. If a vehicle is full, You may be refused entry to board it, and in
some cases, it may not stop to pick up waiting passengers.
Why didn’t they use the Bike Racks on the Front of the Buses like they had on Waiheke a number of years ago . And when I went to the States last year I saw a large number od buses there with the same rack attached .
I’m not sure something that requires the driver to hop out and help the user attach is really viable on NX buses.
Required? Not sure where you’re getting that idea from when its not even allowed:
“Bus drivers cannot assist with bikes or bike racks or leave the bus” – Metlink Wellington
Right so securing the bike on the front of the bus is entirely up to the user. That sounds like a recipe for problems.
Overseas I have seen bicycles fitted with floating devices and paddles.
Really makes you start to suspect that we’re behind the innovation curve here in Auckland.
Overseas I have seen major water crossings fitted with provision for people not in a motor vehicle.
Where’s that number 8 mentality?
In fact, bike racks on the front of buses are already operating in virtually every other city in NZ (notwithstanding the recent legal headache of dealing with front-mounted bus lights…) – I’ve always been intrigued that Auckland has been the outlier in that regard. No, you don’t generally need bus driver assistance; passengers can load/unload them by themselves (usually while other people are boarding/alighting as well, so hardly a big time delay). The attachment system is pretty idiot-proof – I’m struggling to think of any case I’ve ever heard of in over 15 years where a bike has fallen off.
So what kind of frequency do we get with the expanded trial? Well more importantly the for the final solution? Only just looked on the app for their bike symbol and only one on each direction showing.
How is that Bike-Ferry looking? The one pitched as the alternative to Liberating A Lane?
The capacity (just two bikes per bus) and frequency doesn’t really make this very attractive. Even me and my 2 children wouldn’t fit on one bus for a weekend ride. As others have noticed already (and we have done it with trains). Using those racks during peak times is not going to be that easy either, so as a part of the work/uni commute it wouldn’t work. The capacity is even lower than on the ferries.
I applaud the will to do something about crossing the harbour bridge with bikes, but this feels like a token gesture, not a solution.
This is not a solution, but it is an improvement. It’s unlikely to be useful for people who need to travel at peak time, but it will be great for off-peak, and for anyone who would otherwise get stuck – it provides a safety net in the instance of flat tyres, cancelled or missed ferries, and for people like me who use their bike as a mobility aid and largely travel off peak.
Comments beginning to look like Herald comments.
It’s a trial, right?
Looking forward to this. I commute against the flow and at 40km one way I’ll be grateful for a ride back over the bridge to get me half the way home.
I’ve used bike racks on the front of buses elsewhere and they’re handy when you’re in a pinch. Here’s hoping this works out.
I’m really excited about this proposal. While I understand it won’t meet everyone’s needs or preferences, it addresses one of the biggest barriers I’ve personally faced in going car-free, the need to drive to the North Shore to visit family (due to my family’s shameful appetite for sprawl living).
Yeah, it’s just one more gap plugged, even if small.
Best shouldn’t be the enemy of better.
This is a very good and sensible work-round until we can get a permanent walking and cycling link across the harbour. The mono-modal bridge is a terrible barrier in our city for these critical, basic, and valuable modes.
It will really elevate the NX1 service as a closer equivalent to rail services.
Boarding and alighting will be fiddly, but no more so than for prams and wheelchairs, also critical, basic, and valuable services.
And much less disruptive and risky than externally attached bikes.
Would like to see more and more secure bike parking at Busway stations too. Plus of course protected routes focus on them.
Bikes + Rapid Transit = force multiplier for cities; real congestion, climate, public health, and cost of living action.
With these policies it is really important to make a start. If cyclists have to wait for space on a bus this will increase pressure for greater provision for them. Visibility is important.
This looks great and is some much needed positive news for cycling to the shore! Has anyone tried this out yet – I’m wondering how busy it is/how many sets of 3 busses am I likely to need to wait for during rush hour?
That’s ridiculous cause they’re not priority in law and never pay more!And also just wondering if foldable seats have passengers on it and do they need to give their seat to an idiotic bicycle with no priority in law.The riders have no body issues and have energy to ride and other passengers have to offer seat to them?That’s ridiculous and unfair.
i been screeming for this for 15 years sooo overdue – pathetic excuses even from comments here. insane.
Once again entitled cyclists put themselves above other mere mortal non-cyclists. Have other passengers been asked if we are ok with this? Operationally we will all wait for them to get sorted, madness.
Differently able yes because they have no option. Across the bridge, maybe.
I assume this is sarcasm.
If people in such numbers are willing to cycle could it mean a more bicycle in a bus unit be designed in the pipeline, the reason being as Auckland gets more compact and more cars and bumper to bumper traffic something needs to change?
“could it mean more bicycles in a bus be designed”
It’s called a trailer. Just throw the bikes onto it in a big pile.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2777740/Hoarding-pensioner-angers-neighbours-huge-collection-rusting-bicycles-stored-trailers-outside-home.html
Anyone tried it yet? I have been on a bus with the bike rack which was pushed up against the wall . I couldnt see how to pull it down to the floor. Also I dont think my heavy ebike would stay in place during the ride. The article says there will be bike restraints, I wonder if that means extra belts or straps or if thats just the metal bike rack.