Small buses put commuters in jam
Wondering why your bus is too full to stop and pick you up?
There is a good chance the operator has assigned a bus too small for the job.
A fresh report into Wellington’s under-fire new network reveals overcrowding on three of the busiest routes is the result of operator NZ Bus frequently sending out the wrong buses.
In one eight-day period, the company was found to have used undersized vehicles on almost 60 per cent of morning peak services on the under-pressure No. 3 route, from Lyall Bay to Wellington via Kilbirnie and Newtown. It used the correct bus 42 per cent of the time in the afternoon peak.
While lateness was also an issue, the Greater Wellington Regional Council report said it was the smaller buses which were the main cause of overcrowding on the route.
The same problem was evident on two other struggling routes: the No. 36, also between Lyall Bay and Wellington, and the No. 2 between Karori and Seatoun.
The smaller buses carry up to 25 fewer passengers, and are meant to be used on less busy routes. ‘‘Ensuring the correct bus size is used is a key focus of Metlink and operators,’’ the report, written by council chief executive Greg Campbell, said.
‘‘However, in the meantime, additional buses have been deployed to key areas to ensure there is sufficient capacity to meet peak demand.’’
NZ Bus referred questions to Metlink which said operators had sufficient fleets but were not always using them correctly.
It was working with operators to ensure large buses were used only on the busiest routes.
The main morning routes affected by the smaller buses were from Karori, Hataitai Village, and Hutchison Rd, Newtown, to the central city.
The afternoon services mostaffected were from the central city to Karori, and from Courtenay Place and Taranaki St to eastern and southern suburbs.
As well as extra buses, express services which run through Hataitai Village will now stop there to pick up passengers in the morning peak.
That arrangement is expected to be in place until midNovember, when issues are hoped to be ironed out.
The report offered a comprehensive overview of the performance of Wellington City’s new network, which was said to be improving generally.
But there were still problems in some areas with late services, overcrowding, and unreliable transfers at hubs. The problems at hubs were being caused either by late buses, or connecting buses or trains not waiting for late services, the report said.
One of the solutions proposed to curb that problem was not fining operators that wait for connecting services at hubs when penalties for lateness are introduced from October 1.
Timetables were also being reviewed and the council was in regular discussion with operators NZ Bus and Tranzit.
However, anecdotal reports people were shifting to other modes of transport because of the new network had proved to be incorrect, with patronage numbers increasing on last year, the report said.