Auckland Transport train, bus replacement delays, unreliability criticised

Key transport routes and services around Auckland remain under pressure following the extreme weather as students return to school. Photo / NZME

Key transport routes and services around Auckland remain under pressure after last month’s extreme weather as students return to school.

Auckland commuters have lambasted the city’s “unreliable, stressful and embarrassing” public transport network as it remains plagued by delays and cancellations.

It comes on top of “significant existing challenges” such as the ongoing bus driver and ferry crew shortages, a spokesperson for Auckland Transport (AT) said.

Some boats were damaged in last week’s deadly storm and ferry operators are short of 45 crew members. The weather also also scattered debris throughout waterways.

One West Auckland resident has told the Herald his train to the central city takes almost twice as long as it did two weeks ago, with slips still affecting rail services.

The recent floods “extensively” damaged Auckland’s rail and road network, the AT spokesperson said, and workers have been clearing slips, fixing roads and rerouting bus services.

“Granted there has been some track damage due to the flooding, I can accept that,” West Auckland commuter Mark said.

“What I can’t accept is the ridiculous response from the network or the sheer lack of maintenance, accountability and ownership of our disgraceful network.”

He said rail replacement buses he has needed to take have often not arrived, and service changes have been unclear.

He said it was “impossible” to find reliable timetables for the disrupted train services online.

AT did not respond to concerns about how service changes have been notified or communicated to affected commuters.

“The system is a joke and it needs to change,” Mark told the Herald.

AT said a slip near Sturges Rd Station in Henderson had affected services there and scheduled trains were subject to change at short notice.

Kiwirail’s network rebuild was also disrupting services, with peak services stopping at different stations to off-peak trains, and some lines missing stations altogether.

The Onehunga line is closed and rail replacement buses run between stations instead.

Meadowbank Station has since reopened after Kiwirail crews repaired a slip and recovered storm debris.

Mark said he often “gives up” on using public transport, opting instead for his wife to pick him up after work.

“I have a wife on maternity leave, earning the bare minimum from the Government and is about to go into six months of earning nothing while she is still on maternity leave caring for our first child.

“Thanks to Auckland Transport this has become an increasingly stressful and difficult journey and is affecting my performance at work, to which sometimes I have given up and had to ask for my wife to pick me up with our newborn baby in tow.”

He told the Herald he could no longer rely on Auckland’s public transport network.

“All we are asking for, all we deserve, as ratepaying, fare-paying Aucklanders is a service we can rely on, which is well cared for and is the future of the city.

“Not this stressful, uninformed, chaotic and shambolic embarrassment of a transport network,” he said.