Unauthorised bus stop seats can stay

Auckland Transport (AT) is turning a blind eye to a set of unauthorised bus seats.

Four bright red seats, with sponges on ropes attached to soak up rain water, have been installed by a resident at a bus stop on Canterbury Place, in Parnell.

The seats are bolted into a public footpath without council permission.

According to a resident in the area the seats were installed by property owners adjacent to the stop in order to give commuters a place to sit, rather than on their concrete wall.

The seats appeared about two years ago and recently received a new lick of paint after becoming rusty, the resident said.

Two sponges, conveniently tied to the support rails, had also been provided for when the seats got wet.

AT spokesman James Ireland said it had no reason to remove the seats as they were providing a public service to the community.

Currently, there were no plans to install an official AT bus shelter at the Canterbury Place bus stop, Ireland said.

Under council rules there needs to be one metre of clear space on the footpath from the edge of a kerb at a bus stop, he said.

Parnell Community Committee chair Luke Niue commended the residents for showing initiative.

‘‘When a resident can see a need, and fund a great idea, why not,’’ Niue said.

‘‘The seats do an adequate job, it’s only for one bus service and it’s not high volume.’’

However, it should have been AT’S responsibility in the first place to install facilities at the bus stop, he said.

The committee had been pushing for covered shelters in many other areas of Parnell with little to no success, he said.

But Niue applauded AT on its decision to ‘‘turn a blind eye’’ and leave the seats installed.

Waitemata¯ Local Board chair Pippa Coom said it was a brilliant example of tactical urbanism.

’’I’m all for residents coming up with creative and innovative solutions in their neighbourhoods,’’ Coom said.

A follow-up will be made about installing a proper shelter, she said.

The resident who installed the seating declined to comment.

There is a total of 5932 bus stops around the greater Auckland area, with the Parnell area having 35.