Urgent review into bus fiasco

Wellington’s under-fire bus system, only two months old, will be subject to an independent review in an effort to resolve ongoing problems.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chief executive Greg Campbell recently said a review was being considered to work out what was going wrong with the new network.

Councillors agreed yesterday to commission that review ‘‘urgently’’.

The decision came as the council’s sustainable transport committee agreed to further concessions in the face of public pressure, voting to extend the No.14 service from Hataitai further east to Kilbirnie, and extend the 18e bus between Miramar and Karori until 8pm.

The committee had already agreed to reinstate the off-peak service from north Miramar to Karori, which included a stop at Wellington Regional Hospital in Newtown.

The decision to order a review was one of a number of recommendations passed by the committee to improve the struggling network, which was launched in July.

Since then, buses in Wellington have become increasingly unreliable because of lateness and overcrowding, and commuters in several suburbs have asked for old routes which were taken away to be reinstated. There have also been problems with new bus hubs – places where commuters need to transfer from ‘‘feeder’’ buses to core routes.

The committee faced a barrage of public criticism at yesterday’s meeting, with Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff particularly aggressive.

Wagstaff was referring to the ongoing dispute between the Tramways Union and one of the region’s bus operators, Tranzit, which took over 60 per cent of Wellington services in July.

He said he had addressed the committee so many times on the importance of protecting drivers’ terms and conditions that it appeared the committee was ‘‘impenetrable’’. He warned the problems with the new network would not be resolved until that dispute was settled.

‘‘This problem you find yourselves in now cannot be addressed until you confront the issues affecting the bus drivers. I can’t put it simpler than that.’’

Councillor Ken Laban snapped back and said the dispute process had been a ‘‘farce’’ because Tranzit was not interested in negotiating with the union.

‘‘We all know what the issue is – they won’t negotiate. They need to get their arse in the room.’’

But Wagstaff said the council had the power to force those negotiations forward, namely by appointing a facilitator to help settle the dispute.