Thousands of Auckland commuters disrupted as 800 bus drivers strike

Catching a bus today? It might be best to check your schedule again as some services will be affected by strike action.

Some commuters will be lucky and get a free ride - with about half of all bus trips around the city being free as more than 800 bus drivers in the FIRST Union and NZ Tramways Union go on strike.

Other services around Auckland, however, will be cancelled altogether during specific times today, tomorrow and later this week.

Due to industrial action some NZ Bus services will not operate on Monday and Tuesday morning between 4am - 8am.

Find out more information on affected routes for Monday here: https://t.co/ksdah5J3i5

Details on trips not operating Tuesday will be available Monday morning. pic.twitter.com/21o8ojbIOL

— Auckland Transport (@AklTransport) November 30, 2019

A number of NZ Bus services will not run today and tomorrow between 4am and 8am.

The routes affected are:

• CityLink, InnerLink, OuterLink, TāmakiLink, 14T, 14W, 18, 20, 22A, 22N, 22R, 24B, 24R, 24W, 25B, 25L, 27T, 27W, 27H, 30, 68, 75, 82, 101, 105, 106, 110, 125X, 128, 129, 162, 221X, 223X, 243X, 248X, 252, 253, 295, 321, 650, 670, 751, 755, 762, 781, 801, 806, 807, 814, 843, 871, 923 and 924.

The Auckland Transport has released details for those services via its website's service announcement page.

NZ Bus said late last week that there would be no services at all from the Glenfield, Swanson and Onehunga depots between 4am and 7am today as well as from 2pm to 4pm on Thursday.

Bus services around Auckland will be affected this week due to strike action. Photo / File

Other services canned are those from the City, Roskill and Panmure depots between 4am and 7am tomorrow and 2pm to 4pm on Friday.

"[Auckland Transport] Metro services operated by NZ Bus will be affected during these times. With AT Metro services scheduled across all NZ Bus depots, the service impact will be felt across the service network," a statement said.

"As well as this, all NZ Bus drivers will not be collecting fares on any other services starting 4am [today] and ending at 4.30am on Saturday, December 7."

NZ Bus chief executive Barry Hinkley said they were disappointed things had reached this stage.

"We are obviously disappointed that this action is being taken after two meetings on pay discussions," he said.

"We were in the process of negotiating when FIRST Union and Tramways gave notice of the strike action. Our door remains open for the unions to restart a dialogue to resolve this situation as quickly as possible."

An increase to pay rates of up to an extra $8 per hour, double-time payment for driving after midnight, weekend work to be paid at time-and-a-half and annual leave to be increased from four to five weeks are the current claims being made by the unions.

Drivers are also calling for all meal breaks on straight shifts and broken shifts should be paid.