Who's the sucker?

Auckland's traffic woes drag us all down. Bus services are often unreliable and complicated, but we seem to be heading in the right direction when it comes to reinvigorating rail servces. Hayley Hannan reports from the bus queue.
In a city where 80 per cent of its 1.4 million people rely mainly on cars, Louise Tu'u is very much in a minority of commuters. The 32-year-old playwright doesn't own a car and depends on public transport.
In September last year, Louise sold her 1990 Toyota Corolla and began catching buses. Not so she could be a martyr, she says, but because her car was coming to the end of its road.
Intrigued by - and somewhat in awe of - her efforts, I meet her to ride the Link bus, one of the services soon to be rerouted away from Queen St under Auckland Transport's changes (see box).
Early on a Tuesday morning, I follow her electric-blue Nike hi-tops onto a crowded lime-green bus. We scramble into the last seats and look out the window at the passing cars.
"When I used to drive, I saw people on the bus and thought, 'suckers!'. And now I'm one of those suckers," she jokes.
Louise catches buses and trains to get from her inner-city home across Auckland, mainly to Manukau, Grey Lynn and Pt Chevalier. Finding the Maxx website unhelpful, it took her six weeks to work out the most direct route to Manukau Shopping Centre. Now, the ride takes her just an hour and a half, one way.
She struggles most with the unreliability of the bus services.
"When you look up at the neon sign, and it says, 'bus due', and then two minutes later, it says 'delayed', and the bus disappears, I think, 'Was that a phantom bus?'."
But are Aucklanders swinging into buses? Louise doubts people are taking up public transport as their sole means of getting around. "Our culture celebrates getting a license, getting a car, so I think it will take about 20 years before we have a complete culture shift.
"We need more buy-in. It's easy to advertise that more people should catch the bus, but they need to provide the services. There should also be more buy-in from bus drivers, and more value placed on their jobs."
Although the proposed route changes are a start, Louise argues that fares need to be more affordable and services more frequent and punctual.
"I guess it all comes down to how much are you willing to invest in the transport and in the people?"
Twenty-five minutes and one quarter-loop later, Louise and I hop off the bus. The Link is one of the best services, she says. Unfortunately, the quality varies widely among Auckland's five bus companies. We part ways on Queen St and Louise heads off to wait for her next bus.
For more info see: www.maxx.co.nz where new routes are listed under "network developments".
Stop the bus
Auckland Transport has announced a number of changes for central-Auckland bus routes. It promises new routes will be quicker and simpler and could increase patronage by 10 per cent.
The network has many bus lines using just a few roads: Queen St, Ponsonby Rd, Williamson Ave and Karangahape Rd. Future plans show routes joined and redirected in loops across central-city suburbs. The Link service, a loop running every 10-30 minutes around central suburbs, will no longer go through Queen St or Britomart. Only the Inner City Service, running every five minutes, will use Queen St.
Councillor Mike Lee says ferry commuters and train passengers will be ``disconnected'' under the new configuration, and more work is needed. ``Rather than just tinkering with the bus system route by route, we need a radical change from the ground up. We need a grid system, north to south, west to east,'' he says.
Under the Auckland (Spatial) Plan, Queen St could become a pedestrian haven, so is the move to allow only one bus line on the road a strategic one? ``It certainly would make it easier to pedestrianise Queen St,'' Mr Lee replies.
Ponsonby Rd, too, faces the chop; three of five services are removed. Two extended lines will run directly into Wynyard Quarter, a 35ha business and residential development on the eastern edge of the waterfront. Also new is the Outer Loop, running through Britomart, Pt Chevalier, Balmoral and Newmarket every 15 minutes. Public consultation is closed.  Patrons can expect new lines in July or August.