Auckland bus strike: Thousands of bus users to be hit by drivers’ strike today

Bus driver strikes will hit Auckland commuters this morning, as rain is predicted to hit the city. Photo / Michael Craig

Grab your umbrella and check if your regular bus is still running before leaving the house this morning.

Last night it was announced that up to 700 bus trips are due to be affected by a drivers’ strike in Auckland today.

Auckland Transport revealed this morning it was alerted on Friday evening about a potential bus strike this morning - but did not have enough details to update its systems until over the weekend, when those details were confirmed.

Speaking to TVNZ’s Breakfast show, Auckland Transport Metro Optimisation Manager Richard Harrison said they wanted to give commuters better certainty about the specific details of the strike and timing so they could find alternative travel.

Put to him that commuters may have liked to know of a potential disruption to their Monday morning travel plans on Friday, Harrison said: “Hopefully most Aucklanders had other things to think about over the weekend.”

“So last night or early this morning is when they’re going to start thinking about getting to work.”

Harrison said they also expect a knock-on effect after bus services start running again - which could cause delays to many services.

“The message to commuters is please check the AT mobile app or Journey Planner to see what is running.”

The strikes will be concentrated in the morning and will affect peak commuting times, between 4am and 8am.

“It is deeply disappointing Auckland’s bus users will have their morning travel disrupted by this industrial action at a time when the reliability of services and our passenger numbers have been improving,” Auckland Transport’s executive general manager of public transport services, Stacey van der Putten said.

“[The] industrial action has the potential to disrupt tens of thousands of Aucklanders, and we appreciate how deeply frustrating this is for our customers, who have been incredibly patient over the past year while we worked to overcome the driver shortage.”

Van de Putten urged bus users to use the AT Mobile app or Journey Planner before travelling this morning to find out whether their usual trip is affected and to see options for alternative services.

The current offer from NZ Bus is rumoured to pay the company’s Auckland drivers more than the going rate for the sector and more than the $30-an-hour average wage that AT was hoping to reach this year for its contracted services, according to van de Putten.

“Auckland Transport strongly believes that bus drivers should receive a fair wage, which is why we have worked pro actively to bring the industry together in recent years to support improvements to driver wages and conditions,” she said.

“Our teams have also worked to source significant additional funding from both Auckland Council and the Government, which has meant Auckland’s bus drivers have received a number of meaningful increases to their wages.

“I hope that the unions and NZ Bus are able to quickly resolve this dispute [today] so that tens of thousands of Aucklanders aren’t unnecessarily inconvenienced this week over issues which could have been dealt with in mediation.”

Below are the bus routes which are expected to be impacted:

18, 14T, 14W, 20, 22N, 22R, 24B, 24R, 25B, 25L, 27H, 27W, 30, 64, 68, 75, 76, 82, 101, 105, 106, 125X, 128, 129, 162, 252, 253, 295, 321, 650, 670, 755, 781, 801, 802, 806, 807, 814, 842, 843, 871, 923, 774, 775, InnerLink, OuterLink, CityLink and TamakiLink.

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.