Commuters left stranded after change
Buses not arriving on time, overcrowding and commuters left on the sidewalk are some of the concerns from residents in an Upper Harbour suburb after a new bus network was rolled out for West Auckland.
Greenhithe residents had their first week with the new bus route as part of the New Network for West Auckland from June 11.
Two services to Takapuna and Auckland City previously serviced the area, however this has now been replaced with a single service which ends at Constellation Bus Station.
The new 120 service, which runs from Henderson to Constellation Bus Station via Greenhithe, offers later evening services until around 10.30pm. Previous services stopped at around 7pm.
However the number of buses between 7am and 8am, excluding school services, has reduced from eight to four with a 15-minute frequency at peak times.
Commuters said they had noted buses arriving both early and late and overcrowding on services. There were also instances of commuters not being able to board the bus as it was full. An additional service which will service Greenhithe as part of the North Shore New Network, W5, is not due until 2018.
Service 130, which travelled via Greenhithe to Takapuna, has been replaced with service 120. The 956 service, which ran at peak times only from Upper Harbour Dr to midtown, has been discontinued.
Greenhithe Residents Association chairman Brian Carran said concern was expressed at the Annual General Meeting about a drop in the number of morning services. He said the worry was it would push people back onto the roads if they were being left behind by buses that were full.
Auckland Transport (AT) spokesman Mark Hannan said in a statement, they were aware of the issues and were addressing them as urgently as possible. He said there is always a ‘‘settling in period’’ when implementing a new bus network. Once timings of the routes became more regular, he said, then AT could identify if changes need to be made to the timetable.
The decision was made to remove the section of the 956 route via Upper Harbour Dr and provide a 15-minute frequency at peak times on the 120 service, as there was a greater need for a service from Hobsonville to Constellation Bus Station. Upper Harbour Local Board chairwoman Lisa Whyte said the board was passing on all constructive feedback to AT, and it seemed folks were happy with the extra services but morning loading needed to be sorted.