Auckland Transport reveals bus changes to improve operations at Constellation Station

Auckland Transport is suspending 37 services on a major bus route after gridlock and commuter chaos at its Constellation Drive bus station last evening.

The change follows complaints about new bus routes between the North Shore and Auckland CBD.

Long bus queues formed at Constellation Drive and commuters reported long delays on the first day of a new bus network between North Shore and the CBD.

They complained Constellation Drive was gridlocked and have counted a queue of buses waiting to get onto the busway.

AT today said it was suspending 37 of the 180 runs on the NX1 service that runs from Albany, Hibiscus Coast and Constellation Drive to Britomart to the city.

The suspension of some bus services is part of changes to help free up bus capacity at Constellation Station.

Yesterday during the afternoon peak there were capacity issues at Constellation with three buses arriving every minute with the introduction of the new bus network for the shore.

AT group manager metro service delivery, Stacey Van Der Putten conceded the station could not cope with demand.

"We have a plan to manage the number of buses and improve efficiency for our customers," she said.

"There are now two Northern Express routes so we are suspending some NX1 services because of surplus capacity but those buses will be available for back-up, if needed."

The new NX2 service that runs from the North Shore to Auckland universities, via Fanshawe St and Wellseley St, is not affected by the changes.

Van Der Putten said AT also planned to re-organise buses in the layover area at Constellation to free up space.

The company also add temporary traffic management at the station to direct bus drivers to the right stop.

"I'm confident we can keep buses moving and we can avoid having a large number of buses backed-up," she said.

"We are committed to making this work and we apologise to our customers for any disruption during this major change. Please be patient."

Over the next few years, as part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project, a new northbound platform will be constructed on the other side of the busway at Constellation to improve capacity.