Bus depot move proposal to Manukau horrifies opponents

The InterCity Bus Terminal at SkyCity casino. Photo/Sarah Ivey

Inter-city bus passengers might be forced to find their own way into central Auckland after their journey ends in Manukau, 22kms away.

Auckland Transport wants the main bus interchange at SkyCity moved from opposite the $700 million NZ International Convention Centre construction site to Manukau.

Between 50 and 60 buses go through the terminal each day with more than 300,000 passengers per year, according to InterCity, one of the four bus companies that use it.

Auckland Transport said yesterday that the best new location was Manukau.

But opponents say it would mean passengers who have already travelled hours from other cities would be forced to haul their luggage off the bus and line up for another.

Manukau was 22km from the central city and 30 minutes at least on a day without traffic, and not counting the waiting time for other buses.

Auckland Transport said nothing had yet been decided.

"We have done an assessment and have decided that Manukau is a good option," a spokesman said, describing talks with the inter-city bus operators.

"It has a good area for the pick-up of passengers, has excellent connections to public transport in the east and south and for anyone heading to the city or the north or west the Manukau Train Station is just steps away."

But Jon Reeves, Public Transport Users Association co-ordinator, described the proposal as "ridiculous".

"After a long overnight or daytime journey from Wellington, Napier or New Plymouth, the last thing a long-distance coach user wants to do is end up in Manukau and drag all their heavy baggage to the train station, squeeze in a packed commuter train to end up in Britomart 40 odd minutes later."

"This is further proof Auckland Transport has little consideration for public transport users. It needs to be encouraging more use of long distance coach and rail services. This smacks completely of the opposite. We would have appreciated being involved in this discussion from the outset. AT needs to put passengers first."

Viv Beck, Heart of the City chief executive, also opposed the Manukau move.

"This is really concerning, absolutely. We've got growth in public transport but to have something like this..." she said citing world-class cities including Vienna, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto which all had CBD bus hubs.

"We have a tourism boom and making it more difficult for people to do a double like that with their buses."

Rachael Shadbolt, general manager of Hospitality NZ, said she didn't think the move would seriously disadvantage the CBD.

"However it would add an additional and unnecessary inconvenience to those bus users, who would have to find additional transport to/from Manukau.

"We doubt it would stop people from staying in the city - but the additional bus or train connection to get to their final destination could be inconvenient for the visitor and not a great way to start their stay in the city.

"Given all the additional building etc going in the CBD couldn't it be accommodated somewhere closer to downtown Auckland?"

Ateed chief executive Brett O'Riley. Photo / Chris Loufte

Brett O'Riley, Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development chief executive, backed the Manukau move.

"We're in favour of Manukau because we know we need a site that can take more buses and that's in close proximity to the airport," he said.

"We also recognised that we want to have other sites around Auckland. We would ideally have somewhere in the CBD but it's not realistic," O'Riley said.

Two years ago, SkyCity indicated an interest in the terminal being moved from its premises.

Nigel Morrison who was then chief executive of the Australasian business, said the busy transport hub, which has operated on the ground floor of the casino giant's premises since 1996, was not in the best place for either his business or for passengers.

Morrison said in 2014 that he wanted authorities to examine better locations and suggested Britomart because InterCity would then link with other public transport modes, including trains, suburban buses and ferries. He called for action from Auckland Council.

But Matthew Cockram, chief executive of Britomart developer Cooper and Company, bristled at the suggestion. Britomart was already overloaded with buses, he complained at the time.

Bus companies are also understood to be unhappy about the Manukau move, fearing the impact on patronage.