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Auckland Transport (AT) says a traffic debacle at an Auckland mall on Saturday is an “unfortunate reminder” of what happens when thousands of shopper descend a shopping area at once on a rainy afternoon.
After two days of silence, AT has hit back tonight at claims the agency did nothing to prevent the weekend road drama.
Stacey van der Putten, AT’s executive general manager Public Transport Services, said AT did everything it could and the situation was simply an “unfortunate reminder of what happens when large numbers of Aucklanders all head to the shops at once on a rainy weekend afternoon”.
Westfield yesterday apologised, blaming wet weather and surging shopper demand for the debacle.
However, the Automobile Association (AA) is calling on Auckland Transport (AT) to urgently address traffic management issues in the shopping district after the weekend’s events.
“We’ve seen this once before,” AA’s Auckland issues spokesman Martin Glynn said.
“People just couldn’t get out and some of that appears to be [because of] how the roads are configured around the mall.”
He said the traffic lights did not leave enough room for drivers to exit the car park at a reasonable pace.
Van der Putten disputed claims nothing was done.
“Our teams at the Auckland Transport Operations Centre were actively monitoring traffic in Newmarket on Saturday and actively made changes to traffic signals to help clear the traffic as quickly as possible.
“But no amount of ‘signal optimisation’ by our teams could overcome the reality that there were more people on Newmarket’s local roads than there usually are.”
She pointed to the swathe of public transport options near the shopping centre, which if people utilised, would prevent such an event in the future.
“Three different train lines pass through Newmarket (the Western, Southern and Onehunga lines) along with six frequent bus routes that run at least every 15 minutes,” van der Putten said
“These public transport options mean shoppers do have a good alternative option that on busy days before Christmas is likely to be quicker, cheaper and much lower stress than driving.”
Knoff-Thomas encouraged shoppers to take advantage of the nearby bus lanes and train station.
With demand driven by Black Friday sales, and poor weather pushing shoppers indoors, Glynn said preventing the carpark chaos would have been difficult.
“When you get all that demand at once I don’t know if you can prevent it.
“It’s more about how it’s managed when these incidents do happen, it’s really about how you respond to it rather than trying to prevent it.”
Both Westfield and AT could have done more, he said.
“Westfield, as a mall operator, as soon as they could see how bad it was becoming I think they needed to get in touch with Auckland Transport. That may have happened, but it’s hard to tell.
“Auckland Transport could’ve made some changes to the phasing of the traffic lights to help start clearing the delay.”
He hoped Saturday’s mishap would prompt a response.
“I’d like to be optimistic that this is a bit of a wake-up call.
“At this scale, you could argue that there needs to be a formal response to address it.”
Knoff-Thomas said the Newmarket Business Association was engaged with AT and Westfield to avoid repeat incidents.
“We’ll be working very closely to see what we can do to increase the flow of traffic; there are things Auckland Transport Operations Centre can do to clear the roads.
“Westfield themselves have got more staff on for the weekends to make sure they can handle any traffic management issues. We’ll be well prepared going forward.”
Glynn encouraged would-be shoppers to think twice before driving to a mall at peak times, with public transport not a “realistic alternative” for many.
“Auckland’s public transport network isn’t developed to such an extent here that it’s a realistic alternative for a lot of people.
“I suspect a lot of people who went to Westfield on the weekend might be looking at whether that is an option for them. But if you live close enough to the main line, great. But… no, we’re not there yet.”
