The owner of this Kabardin St property in Karaka fought plans to build a bus shelter right outside his front door. Photo / Supplied
The owner of this Kabardin St property in Karaka fought plans to build a bus shelter right outside his front door. Photo / Supplied
A Karaka homeowner is embroiled in a battle with Auckland Transport (AT) to stop a bus shelter from being built directly in front of his front door.
But AT has so far only agreed to move the bus stop to the driveway, with the tail of the stop over thedriveway.
The Kabardin St resident contacted the Herald after reading a report last week about two new townhouses in Hobsonville Point Dr are hemmed in by a bus shelter.
"I read that story and thought that could be me in a not too distant future," said the man, who didn't want to be named.
A bus stop directly in front of a front door on Hobsonville Point Drive in Hobsonville.
Auckland Transport spokesman Mark Hannan said the bus stop was planned by the developer and agreed by AT as part of the approved street layout of the Karaka subdivision before the houses were built.
"Essentially this comes down to the developer," Hannan said.
"They planned the road network, then presumably sold development plots.
"In that process somewhere along the line, they have lost sight of the planned and approved network, and then been surprised by the construction of approved infrastructure."
The owner of the $1.15 million house bought his home last year, but found out about the planned bus stop just three months ago.
He has since written to AT, Mayor Phil Goff, the local board, the developers and Members of Parliament.
The man suggested moving the bus stop 200m away, but that was ruled out by AT because it said that would be "directly counter to the typical planned spacing of bus stops".
The Kabardin St property. Photo / Supplied
"A crew working for the developer arrived to construct [it] one day to find his home was complete and occupied, with a nice 'stepping stone' path across the berm to the kerb edge," Hannan said.
"We worked with them and their consultants to make an adjustment to the position of the stop, away from his front door."
This pushed the tail of the bus stop over the driveway.
"But as we've explained ... this is perfectly normal in Auckland and a bus will typically stop for only between 10 and 20 seconds, and only when someone wants to board or alight," Hannan added.
Traffic Engineering Solutions principal traffic engineer Simon Cleaver said in a letter to the homeowners about the location of the bus stop:
"We have reviewed the location of this bus stop and have amended the proposed bus stop location so it sits partly across your driveway."
The bus stop would be about 9m from the edge of the driveway, he said, and not in front of the entrance path.
"A concrete pad is still proposed on the berm in front of the bus stop as this is required to ensure the safety of passengers boarding and alighting from the bus."
The property owner, however, is far from satisfied.
"It is absurd for anyone to say having a public bus stop blocking your driveway is normal," he said.
"I understand the bus stop was part of the resource consent of a neighbouring development, not the developers of my house, so it is unfair that this has affected me."
