Drivers pay out $5.3m in 3yrs for lane abuse

Cars can only use T2 and T3 lanes when they are carrying the right number of people. Photo / Janna Dixon

North Shore targeted in transport crackdown.

Motorists have paid $5.3 million in fines over three years for driving illegally in Auckland's bus and car-pooling lanes - and owe a lot more.

Auckland Transport has issued more than 62,000 tickets for abuse of lanes reserved for high-occupancy vehicles since becoming a council body in November 2010.

But it has waived about 16,000 of those for technical or legal reasons, or in acknowledgment of special circumstances such as medical emergencies, and collected $150 fines from more than 35,000 vehicle owners or drivers.

That leaves about 11,000 fines outstanding, and in the hands of debt-collectors.

North Shore roads have become the new enforcement hot spots, after a reduction in the number of fines imposed in central Auckland.

Clearer signs declaring Grafton Bridge off-limits to general traffic on week days have led to a marked reduction in tickets issued for lane breaches in the CBD.

In November, 192 tickets were issued, against 1443 given 12 months earlier, according to figures given to the Herald by Auckland Transport.

But increased enforcement of T2 or T3 "transit" lanes - reserved for vehicles with at least two or three occupants - on the North Shore has more than made up for the fewer fines in downtown Auckland.

The number of tickets issued on North Shore roads jumped more than sixfold from 131 in July to 826 in August. It almost doubled again to 1598 in October, before falling to 970 in November.

Auckland Transport says that followed warnings to motorists in suburban newspaper advertising in early August that it was about to resume enforcement in lanes after improving what it found to have been deficient signs inherited from the former North Shore City Council.

The previous surge in tickets has alarmed Auckland Council member George Wood, even though he was a strong advocate of transit lanes while serving as a North Shore mayor.

Mr Wood, who chairs the council's regional strategy and policy committee, suspected Auckland Transport might be picking on North Shore motorists "to make sure they can make up their budget requirements".

"This smacks of a revenue-gathering performance," he said of the North Shore blitz.

But fellow North Shore councillor Chris Darby said Auckland Transport had assured him its motive was not revenue gathering.