Brian Rudman: All the signs point to us going the wrong way

Cartoon / Bromhead

On Friday, Auckland's transport bosses laid on a bus from the Britomart train station to take official guests to the opening of the new Grafton station.

When I suggested to the organisers that travelling by train might have made more sense, symbolically and practically, I was told it was all about showing off the integrated nature of public transport. Yeah, right.

Sending the official bus up Symonds St along the "central connector" bus lane across Grafton Bridge only drew attention to the continuing disconnected nature of our public transport system, even after tens of millions of dollars have been sprayed about.

Admittedly, part of the problem harks back to the past fractured nature of Auckland local government.

The central connector was Auckland City's attempt to speed up buses from the CBD through the Newmarket bottleneck and on to places south.

But when the regional and central governments finally decided to create a proper Auckland passenger rail service network, you might have thought someone would have pointed out that trying to continue with the creation of a parallel publicly funded bus service on crowded inner-city streets didn't make a lot of sense.

Even the retrofitting of the streets to accommodate buses has been a botched exercise, unless annoying motorists was the point of the exercise. No more so than at narrow Grafton Bridge.

The original grand plan was to build a new bus bridge across Grafton Gully alongside the historic bridge, leaving it for existing road and pedestrian use. But money was short, so the cheaper option of strengthening the old bridge and giving priority to buses was made.

I've long forgotten why the even simpler and cheaper option of running the central connector along Symonds St as far as Grafton Rd, then along that and up the gully to Park Rd was not chosen.

The result is the Grafton Bridge fiasco. Since October, when cars and trucks were barred from the bridge between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, there's been mass disobedience on the part of motorists. How much is deliberate defiance is anyone's guess.

I suspect the main reason has been the inadequacy of the signs, compounded by the "tourist on the wrong side" syndrome.

Just as some tourists default to their normal right-hand side of the road when driving on our long and often empty rural highways, Grafton Bridge seems so inviting when you approach it in its usual state - which is largely devoid of buses.

In other words, there are no reference points such as a line of buses, to suggest it is a bus-only zone.

Since December, when $150 fines began being enforced, more than 12,000 drivers have been stung for $1.9 million. Only 25 per cent have paid.

Transport committee chairman Ken Baguley now admits the signs were inadequate. He says he's suggested to his officials that "with the benefit of hindsight, you're not alerted to the fact that it's a bus lane very well."

He hardly needed hindsight for that penny to drop.

In late October, soon after the ban came into force, I ridiculed the inadequacy of the signs after a single trip to view them. The problem was obvious then, and people were transgressing from day one.

In a recent report to the city transport committee, parking group manager Dale Clements says the "perception amongst some road users and the media" that the signs have been inadequate and the enforcement activities are part of a revenue-gathering exercise "has been exacerbated by the low level of observed bus volume on the bridge - 281 buses per 24 hour weekday".

He adds that "perceptions of low bus volumes undermine the argument for retaining Grafton Bridge for buses only". With that sentiment I fully agree.

I'm a great supporter of public transport. Unlike the vast majority of politicians involved, I use it. But I've always believed hijacking Grafton Bridge for buses merely created a new set of problems.

High among them was that it blocked the quickest route from the inner western suburbs to the city's main public hospital and the adjacent Domain and museum.

In the last remaining months of Auckland City's existence, we're unlikely to see anyone admitting the error of their ways over Grafton Bridge and the central connector.

But come the Super City and one integrated transport agency, maybe a fresh set of eyes will do better.