True blue concerns
Some Wellington commuters are complaining the neon blue lighting in the city’s new fleet of buses is causing headaches.
The blue lights introduced to ‘‘minimise reflection’’ on the driver’s windscreen have been criticised for being ‘‘too aggressive’’ and ‘‘unhealthy’’.
Metlink said the lights were not installed for aesthetics, but for an ‘‘operational purpose’’.
‘‘Like some other changes around the bus network, there are people in favour and others against. Some customers say it adds a distinctive look to the new buses.’’
Yesterday, WorkSafe was asked who bus passengers should complain to about the lighting.
The response did nothing to quell social media users – one wondering whether her mode of transport was ‘‘a disco bus’’.
The lights complaint was the latest about the new bus network introduced on Sunday.
Greater Wellington Regional Council said the network performed far better yesterday compared with its first major test during Monday morning’s peakhour commute.
Regional councillor Daran Ponter said there were a couple of cancelled and late services yesterday, but the service was an improvement on Monday.
‘‘There were no dropped services today across the network and there was a full complement of staff, which made a big improvement.’’
Monday’s commute resulted in a flood of complaints from dissatisfied peak-hour travellers about missed connections, buses that failed to show, long waits, overcrowded buses and some drivers who appeared not to know their new routes.
One commuter posted on Monday night that her driver had driven up Ngaio Gorge instead of Ngauranga Gorge, which is about 8km further north. She was worried about her safety because the top of the double-decker bus she was travelling in scraped power lines in the Ngaio Gorge.
There was more social media venting yesterday morning as some commuters took to Twitter to express frustration at buses running late, not showing up or going the wrong way.
A regional council spokesman said there were still a few things to be ironed out, but that was to be expected.
Ponter said things had largely improved after a day of familiarisation for many Wellingtonians with the network changes that involved an overhaul of the city’s routes, timetables and fares.
‘‘They may not accept it but people are becoming more familiar with the new route and timetables and asking less questions than yesterday [Monday].’’
Metlink confirmed one driver had driven up Ngaio Gorge instead of Ngauranga Gorge, and that the former was not an approved double-decker route.
‘‘We’ve instructed the operator to urgently advise drivers to stay off that road.’’
The incident was the only one involving power lines being hit, Metlink said.
It also confirmed it was aware of some drivers who had been brought in from outside Wellington to help with the new network. They were Tranzit employees on permanent or short-term contracts, it said.