File photo / Paul Estcourt
As far back as 1986, a city council management plan proposed banning tour buses from Mt Eden. Since then, the notion has been a standard part of most of the many prescriptions for improving the popular tourist destination.
Bus operators could, therefore, hardly maintain they were totally shocked when the Auckland Council announced heavy vehicles would be banned from the summit from late next month.
That did not stop their resistance, however, and they now have been granted a longer lead-in time, with the ban taking effect on December 12. From that date, Mt Eden will be a more pleasant experience for those who come to admire the 360-degree view of the city and surrounds from its summit.
In practice, there will be little added difficulty for those who arrive on the 40 or so tour coaches each day. They have been allocated a side road halfway up the volcano as a parking and turning area.
From there, passengers will be able to either walk an extra 200m to the summit or catch an electric-powered shuttle. Most will surely be only too happy to escape the confines of their buses for the relatively easy stroll. Others, perhaps more elderly, will be catered for adequately, and for no charge.
The main complaint of the tour operators seems to be that they will have to allocate extra time for their visit. This, they say, may mean Mt Eden has to be removed from their itineraries. That is surely an empty threat given the summit has enough appeal to attract 1.2 million visitors a year.
In fact, its very appeal has made a ban on heavy vehicles something of an inevitability. There are obvious safety issues, and triggers for conflict, on the narrow and largely one-way summit road, where buses compete for space with cars, cyclists and pedestrians.
The coaches have also been blamed for the cracking and crumbling of the road. While they are not the only culprit, a resealing in late 2009 and a pre-World Cup closure for maintenance carried their own commentary on the pressure on the surface. Buses must also take a sizeable share of the blame for the summit sometimes being over-crowded and polluted by diesel fumes and noise.
These pressures are bound to increase, and something had to be done. According to the Inbound Tour Operators Council, almost half the people who visit the summit annually arrive in coaches. That statistic, alone, speaks volumes of the impact of the surge in international tourism over the past couple of decades.
With more, and bigger, cruise ships scheduled to visit Auckland, the reality is that more, and bigger, coaches will visit Mt Eden. The time for taking it for granted has passed. Action that addresses the increased visitor pressures, while also acknowledging the volcano's importance in archaeological, geological and Maori heritage terms, is overdue.
This does not mean tour operators need to be unduly inconvenienced. Fortunately, it should be relatively easy to satisfy their aspirations and those of conservationists. The new bus arrangements offer nothing that is not common overseas. Furthermore, the visit remains largely unregulated and coaches continue to pay no levy.
Steps have also been taken to enhance Mt Eden as a tourist destination. A visitor centre, on the site of the former restaurant halfway up the mountain, is a welcome innovation, especially because it serves the purposes of both tour operators and conservationists.
Tourists are far more prepared to respect and conserve a site if they have been informed of its significance. In the case of Mt Eden, this increased understanding will help ensure it continues to be the first stop on Auckland's tourist trail.