Auckland buses overhaul causes chaos

Many North Shore commuters suffered agonising teething problems yesterday from an overhaul of Auckland region bus services, prompting their mayor to appeal for time to let these "settle down".

A 40 per cent increase in peak services subsidised by the new Auckland Regional Transport Authority was complicated by the arrival of a third bus operator in northern streets, and a redesign of routes which caused widespread confusion.

As North Shore Mayor George Wood and his Auckland City counterpart Dick Hubbard hailed the boost to services with an early-morning party at the Takapuna bus station, many passengers fumed at delays in catching connections between rival operators jostling for stopping space.

Some complained of taking two hours to get from mid-northern suburbs to central Auckland via Takapuna, after finding they had lost direct services previously run by Stagecoach.

They were particularly riled to see the mayors in celebratory mood with balloons, a jazz saxophonist and a person in a bird-suit under the transport authority's "Maxx" marketing brand.

Mr Wood expressed confidence passengers would look back on yesterday as "a great day for North Shore", especially when bus stations opened at the end of the year at Constellation Drive and Albany as components of the $290 million Northern Busway.

"There has been some discussion about the new routes, but people have got to give time for it all to settle down," he said.

Although regional authority information staff were posted at key bus stops, some drivers appeared even more confused than their passengers, who had to tell them which turns to make.

Making matters worse were what the transport authority called "anomalies' in its information website - www.maxx.co.nz - which has prompted the temporary removal of timetable and journey-planning services.

Legal receptionist Nicola Watson was distraught after she spent from 6.30am to 8.30am reaching Auckland from Sunnynook, especially as she had recently bought her first home there on the basis of a direct bus service which she said took only about 20 minutes.

The 21-year-old feared she may have to move if a direct service was not restored to within walking distance of her home, although an authority spokesman last night promised her a faster trip once the Constellation Drive bus station opens in November.

He said his organisation had already yesterday restored several off-peak services removed from Bayswater and from Stanley Pt to Cheltenham, after complaints about gaps in services, and was considering other "minor" changes which it hoped to introduce next week.

Told of Ms Watson's anguish, he said it was too early to indicate where these may be made.

Ms Watson said it took her an hour just to reach Takapuna on one of newcomer Ritchies Transport's late-running buses, before she and dozens of others waited another half an hour for a Stagecoach connection to Auckland.

"But what really got me when I reached Takapuna was the mayors standing around patting themselves on the back and acting like it was a party," she said.

"The depot was decorated in balloons with a man playing the saxophone, council members including Dick Hubbard, photographers, some idiot in a bird suit, and people handing out bags of chocolate bars, pens, magnets, stickers and a cardboard cut-out that turns into a little model bus."

Ms Watson said the cost of the extravaganza could have been better spent training drivers on their new routes.

Ritchies Transport director Andrew Ritchie admitted frustration at unforeseen difficulties settling into new routes, and a South Island bus builder's delays in supplying enough new vehicles.

He said that by midday he could "hardly speak" from expressing dismay at problems such as new drivers making wrong turns, but as the day progressed he became more confident it would not take too long to settle into the new routes.

It was not all gloomy for Aucklanders on the move yesterday, however, as a major realignment of the Nelson St exit from the Northwestern Motorway appeared to go without noticeable hitches.

Most motorists responded well to large overhead signs telling them to leave the motorway from a new left-hand off-ramp, overcoming decades of conditioning to reach Nelson St from the right. There were some hair-raising lane changes, but police reported no crashes.

And bus trips from North Shore should be marginally faster this morning, after a 270m extension to a 1.3km bus lane opened yesterday along State Highway 1 to the Auckland end of the Fanshawe St motorway off-ramp.

But there was more anguish for northern commuters trying to get home from central Auckland last night, as a delay to a traffic lights upgrade on a new route from the Civic Centre in Queen St gridlocked buses queuing to turn right from Victoria St into Albert St.

There were lines of buses for an entire block on the Victoria St hill, taking up to 12 minutes to get through the lights, which the Auckland City Council hopes will include a right-turning arrow before tonight's peak period.

Senior planner Stephen Cable said the council was asking Transit NZ's traffic management unit, which operates signals throughout the region, to finish the necessary software "as a matter of urgency".