High praise for Britomart station

By ANGELA GREGORY

It's late but it's better than never, says former railways worker Trevor Hutchings of the new Britomart station.

The Manurewa pensioner caught a crowded train into the central station at the bottom of Queen St on Saturday to look at the grand entrance in the shell of the old central post office building.

"This should have happened years ago, back in the sixties ... but I like it."

When Mr Hutchings worked in the Otahuhu railway workshops as a fitter and turner, he got cut price train fares to travel to work.

He thought the Britomart design was good, but said electric trains, not diesel, should be used.

His friend Dennis Poole, also of Manurewa, was also impressed with the new structure, although he thought the platforms were too narrow.

Mr Poole, a project manager, said to make the rail system really work it would have to be well integrated with connecting buses, and the suburban stations upgraded. "They need to look at the big picture."

Thousands turned up to view the modern station with its contrasting historic entrance when it opened for public viewing on Saturday.

Many took up the special offer of $2 adult fares, and $1 for children and pensioners, to take what for many was their first train ride in Auckland.

The crowd jostled among jugglers, street performers, clowns and musicians.

The Museum of Transport and Technology arrived with a selection of historic vehicles, including the old Daimler buses that once trundled Auckland's roads.

Inside the pale green Mt Roskill bus was a woman who used to catch it as a child.

Just wanting to be known as Helen, the now grandmother remembers prams being piled into the side carriers and bus trips to Pt Chev beach. But one overriding and not so pleasant memory was the "six-o-clock swill", when drunk men would pile on from the city after the 6pm pub closing.

"There were leering, lurching men ... It was pretty uncomfortable for a young girl."

Helen said she was angry the tramlines had been removed from the central city and she would now be forced into paying to get public transport back there.

"It's going to drive me out of Auckland ... How ironic's that?"