Dave Armstrong

On some days last week up to 50 Wellington bus services were cancelled. This disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of Wellingtonians, causing some to ditch taking the bus for good. So who exactly is to blame? Accusations have been flying around, but so far no culprit has been found.

Thankfully a new board game has been invented that is flying off the shelves into every trendy Wellington home. ClueGo Wellington is a mystery where you find the person responsible for our third-rate bus system. It’s easy to play, just invite some friends around.

But don’t ask them to catch the bus, as they may never get there.

Here are the main suspects:

Chris Laidlaw and Paul Swain in the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) boardroom with contracts and expensive lawyers. Given both were Labour MPs during the Rogernomics era, you’ll remember these guys from the previous family board game Sell Monopoly State Assets. They were involved in GWRC negotiations that saw Tranzit win many new contracts. These contracts didn’t allow for the continuation of drivers’ present wages and conditions, as happened when the train contracts were renegotiated. These gentlemen could rightly argue that lower wages for bus drivers means they can get a better deal for ratepayers, but it could also be argued that the new contracts are the reason so many bus drivers are taking sick leave.

Tranzit in its Masterton headquarters holding new contracts. It certainly wasn’t Tranzit’s fault that a whole lot of Go Wellington buses didn’t turn up last week. However, because the conditions for drivers haven’t been rolled over in the new Tranzit contracts, it has nevertheless caused a problem. Tranzit rightly argues that some drivers are better off under their higher hourly rate. But according to a report issued last week, other more experienced drivers won’t be better off. Who needs experience to drive a big bus around Wellington’s narrow streets anyway?

Go Wellington on a stationary Wrightspeed bus throwing a hissy fit. Go Wellington has a reputation as a good bus provider that treats its employees well. However, of late, it seems that its relationship with the GWRC has broken down. That could be because it lost contracts, or perhaps one of the reasons it lost contracts was because of its relationship with GWRC? Its communication with Metlink has not been ideal, which is why services might be cancelled but we don’t hear about it. Go Wellington might also consider communicating with the media a little better.

Julie Ann Genter at the Beehive holding a bicycle in front of a double-decker bus. Our transport ministers are excellent public transport advocates. However, while they are making good use of photo ops to promote cycling and electric buses, hundreds of Wellingtonians are enduring cancelled services daily. I wonder if our ministers are considering repealing, or at least modifying, the public transport operating model (PTOM) so as not to ensure a repeat of the current fias-Go Wellington. Or perhaps that’s far too radical.

Steven Joyce in his retirement garden holding a spade. Even though Joyce is no longer part of the political scene, he designed the PTOM. GWRC is obliged to put public transport contracts out to tender every few years, and look what has happened. And we haven’t even started the new routes yet. Surely there’s a better way to run essential public transport.

The Metlink website in panic mode issuing apologies. People blame Metlink, yet it is the messenger, not the cause. Because practice makes perfect, Metlink is good at issuing apologies. But it is trying to put a happy face on a flawed system.

The residents of Greater Wellington in their homes not filling out their voting papers. Even though our regional councillors wield enormous power – far more than our city councillors when it comes to transport – most of us don’t even vote in regional council elections. Some candidates even stand unopposed. While Wellington city mayoral and council candidates have a gruelling election campaign with meetings all over the city, our GWRC candidates get a much easier ride.

So who is to blame for our dire bus reliability? All of the above. When you have the crazy situation we had last week, I’m not sure you can point the finger at just one person or organisation.