Green-light bus travel on the way

By CATHY ARONSON

Auckland City bus passengers will get a faster and more reliable service from December when traffic lights are rigged to change green for the bus.

Within three years a global positioning system will detect most of Auckland's buses as they approach an intersection.

If a bus is running late it will send a message to bus-priority traffic lights to stay or change green for up to 10 seconds.

The bus' location will be sent to an information display screen at bus stops to tell passengers how many minutes away the bus is.

The green-light and passenger information system has been planned for seven years but has now been given finance and council approval.

Stagecoach spokesman Russell Turnbull said that under the green-light system buses could get through intersections 10 to 15 seconds quicker and would be more reliable.

A trip on the Link bus from Parnell Rise to Queen St with six or seven lights could reduce travel time by three minutes.

The first 24 inner-city Link buses linked to the system would be on the road in December and would change traffic lights at 44 intersections. Information screens would be at 50 bus stops.

Mr Turnbull said that by the end of 2004, more than 170 intersections and 737 buses in Auckland City would have the light-changing technology and the information screens would be at 204 bus stops.

The system, together with bus lanes, has been on trial since 1998 on the Dominion Rd and Mt Eden Rd routes.

Mr Turnbull said that between then and 2000, passenger numbers rose 43 per cent on Dominion Rd and 23 per cent on Mt Eden Rd.

But that trial relied on wires beneath the road to detect the bus and link to the traffic lights and was not viable for the whole city.

Auckland City Council transport planner Denis Mander said the commercial availability of global positioning system software made the project viable.

The GPS creates a direct link from the bus to the satellite, reducing traffic interruption, costs and risk of the cables being disrupted.

The digital system would also allow Stagecoach and the Auckland Regional Council to monitor bus routes. It would record passenger numbers and detect faults.

Mr Mander said the bus priority lights would complement bus priority lanes.

Auckland has nine roads with bus lanes and plans to put them in Karangahape Rd, Khyber Pass Rd and Broadway by the end of the year.

ARC transport committee chairwoman Catherine Harland said the project would run with the land transport strategy to improve public transport.

A $3.21 million Transfund grant, $3.14 million from Infrastructure Auckland and $600,000 from the Auckland City Council would finance the project.

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