Could you clarify the parking situation whereby one has to drive into an angle park or parking space at right angles to the kerb on a public road, those parking places being marked by painted white lines? Recently I saw two vehicles ticketed for backing into angle parking instead of driving in. A possible explanation is those drivers using a dangerous manoeuvre to back in across two lines of traffic. It's not the parking but the manoeuvres required to back in and drive out again, potentially obstructing traffic flow. Eric Strickett, Auckland.
It's not clearcut, as a woman in New Plymouth found recently, when she received a ticket for backing into an angle park. The Land Transport Road User Rule 2004 states: "If the road controlling authority has indicated that vehicles may be parked only at an angle to the direction of the roadway, a driver must not stand or park a vehicle (other than a cycle) otherwise than in accordance with the direction indicated."
Fair enough, but a number of drivers feel it is safer to back into an angle park and then drive out forwards. A little consideration of this situation would indicate that, apart from holding up traffic while you back into the slot, when you drive out you will be heading into oncoming traffic, which is less than desirable.
My advice would be, don't do it.
Can you please have explained how the bus "real time board" system works, or is supposed to work? My observation as a regular and often frustrated user of bus transport in Auckland is that the system, at best, offers little more than publishing the official schedule. Despite propositions previously advanced by various bus operators that their services achieve a 99 per cent "on-time" performance, my experience is that bus services are almost never on time (arrive within 2 minutes of the scheduled time). Paul Hale, Auckland.
The service updates section on www.maxx.co.nz says upgrades are being introduced to the real time boards. Before the upgrade, if a bus was not being tracked by the real time system (due to driver error, faulty equipment on the bus or if the trip was running late and had not started yet), the real time board would default to the scheduled time of the trip in the due column and the countdown was based on the scheduled time, until the bus was tracked by the system.
If a vehicle remained untracked, the scheduled information would count down and the service would drop off the sign when the service was due at your stop. If the vehicle became registered along the route, the due countdown would update on the sign to display real time information. Under the new system, both scheduled and real time information will be displayed on the same line.
The new layout means you can easily see what buses are timetabled to arrive at your stop and whether they are being tracked or not.
As well, new information services for mobile phones including iPhone and Android phone apps and a mobile site designed for easier smartphone use have been introduced. Go to the website for more information.