A bus makes its way along the Northern Busway. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A bus makes its way along the Northern Busway. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland's $300 million buses-only spinal highway is up and running this week, offering commuters fast and efficient services every three minutes at peak times along its 6.2km route past four purpose-built stations - not counting the "off-line" Albany park-and-ride facility.

There is no doubt that cruising at 80km/h along a comparatively empty two-lane road beats stewing in motorway queues hands down for speed and efficiency, but the Herald found a weak link when it road-tested the North Shore's wider bus network yesterday, from Campbells Bay to our Albert St headquarters in the city.

A 15.6km bus-only trip by transport reporter Mathew Dearnaley, using 2km of the busway via the Smales Farm station and priority lanes for some other parts of the trip, took 52 minutes - not counting a 400m walk and 10-minute wait for a late bus.

That was bettered by a hybrid trip of 18.6km - 4.7km of it by car and 13.9km by bus along the busway and beyond - by assistant editor John Roughan in just under 42 minutes.

But the outright winner was health reporter Errol Kiong, who drove 15.8km via the Tristram Ave on-ramp to the Northern Motorway in 37 minutes.

Mathew Dearnaley
Bus all the way
68 minutes

It seems promising enough. A sparkling summer morning in Campbells Bay, lulling me into anticipation of an easy excursion through suburban North Shore before sailing down part of the long-awaited busway.

I've drawn the buses-only option in a three-legged contest to test a complex transport web of which the busway is the new heart and spine.

A Herald editor had queried the design of an earlier experiment in which I enjoyed the run of the busway, before it became fully operational, to beat car-driving reporter Errol Kiong from Constellation Drive.

Assistant editor John Roughan challenged us to make the sequel more real, starting at his place, and agreed to be roped in to the folly by driving to the Constellation "park and ride" station before trying his luck on a bus.

After a brisk four-minute walk, I'm joined at a bus-stop by several others excited at the prospect of a fast trip in a "new era" of public transport.

One young woman is thrilled about a new 43 per cent discount for tertiary students and looks forward to cruising through the Smales Park busway station instead of queuing interminably to reach the Northcote Rd motorway on-ramp.