AT bags $4.6m in bus lane trial
Motorists caught unawares by change to lane policing hours
Auckland Transport has pocketed an additional $4.6 million in fines from motorists in just three months, after extending the restrictions on a single poorly painted bus lane to include non-peak hours.
The bus and transit lane extends just 160m along Khyber Pass Rd leading into the Newmarket shopping strip on Broadway.
Its green lane paint has peeled from wear, leaving largely unmarked asphalt, and one of the bus lane signs is bent away from oncoming drivers.
Until December last year, motorists were fined only for driving in the bus lane during Monday to Friday peak hours of 7am to 10am, and 4pm to 7pm. However, Auckland Transport has implemented a new sixmonth trial of extended hours.
AT is now pocketing $150 every time a motorist travels more than 50 metres along the lane, from 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.
Numbers released under the Official Information Act reveal in the three months prior to the trial — September to November 2019 — the Khyber Pass Rd bus lane earned 10,020 infringements, equalling $1,503,000 in fines.
But in the first three months of the trial, December to February, 40,980 infringements were issued equalling $6,147,000 — netting AT an extra $4.6m in three months. In response to the Herald on Sunday’s questions about the revenue increase during the weekends and in the middle of the day, AT’s Mark Hannan cited the high compliance rate of motorists staying out of the lane.
“The figures are clear: 98.76 per cent of drivers get it right and follow the rules when using Khyber Pass — just 1.24 per cent of drivers get it wrong,” Hannan said.
“The legal requirement for signage and markings is to have signs and the words Bus Lane.
“There is no legal requirement for greening. Infringement fees are set nationally by the Ministry of Transport, not by AT.”
Hannan also noted that AT had not been issuing infringements since the country went to alert level 4 on March 26.
Damian Christie was nabbed with a $150 fine on a Saturday morning in February while driving his kids to the movies along Khyber Pass Rd.
“The roads were virtually empty. The only reason we were in the lefthand lane was so we could turn left at the bottom.
“If it was clear that it was a bus lane then obviously we wouldn’t have done it,” Christie said.
“When I went back to look at the signs and marking, it’s pathetic. The bus lane is only just over 100 metres long, but it looks like someone painted the first 5 metres then gave up — the paint just fades out.
“If they could afford to mount permanent cameras there and rake in millions of dollars in just a few months, the least they could do is make it clear where the lane starts and ends.
“It seems the real trial is how much money can they grab from a 100m patch of road.”
AT explained the reasons for the extension in hours were to help buses run on time, to encourage people to carpool or use public transport, and to improve pedestrian safety.
They had notified residents and businesses in November with brochures, electronic signs and dropin sessions, and to prepare frequent road users for the changes, had issued only warnings between November 18 and 30 on all the lanes on Khyber Pass Rd and Broadway.
However Christie was still puzzled at his fine on a Saturday, and took to Twitter to see if others had been nabbed, unaware of the bus lane trial.
Many motorists replied saying they were unaware of the changes, and had been fined on Saturday and Sunday afternoons with the roads largely empty and no buses in sight.
“$150 fine for 50m of bus lane that is in the left-turning lane anyway. It’s a trap,” one person commented.
“This is just so wrong. Turning from Gillies Ave [intersection with Khyber Pass Rd] you are not looking at signs, just traffic so just so easy to get trapped as I was!” another said.
It seems the real trial is how much money can they grab from a 100m patch of road. Damian Christie