Buses make way for park in Auckland CBD's Victoria St

An artist's impression of the green park on Victoria St. Illustration/Auckland Council

Buses look set to be banned on Victoria St in central Auckland to transform most of the street into a park between Albert and Victoria Parks.

Public consultation on bus routes across the city have rejected the idea of running buses on Victoria St in favour of using Wellesley St as the main east-west bus route through the Queen St valley.

Many of the 2200 submissions supported the "Green Link", a linear park for pedestrians and motorists between Albert and Victoria Parks.

The park is contained in the Auckland Council's 2012 City Centre Masterplan, but has lacked funding and remains a vital transport link while the $3.4 billion City Rail Link is being built at the city end up Albert St.

Feedback on the consultation was discussed by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and councillors at a workshop today.

Planning committee chairman Chris Darby said making the best use of scarce road space, particularly for public transport, was a constant challenge.

Auckland Transport chief metro officer Mark Lambert said the challenge is to provide more reliable and faster public transport without compromising the quality of city space.

He believed the parties had come up with a solution that offers the best of both worlds.

The new option removes the need for buses on Victoria St by moving some major bus routes within the CBD and developing a new bus facility in Grafton Gully.

The option is still at the feasibility stage. Auckland Transport intends to do more work to ensure it can work and report back to council's planning committee in September.