Scathing review of bus network

The team responsible for rolling out Wellington’s controversial new bus network was not cut out for the job, a review has found.

The new network was launched across Wellington city in July, and there were a number of problems, including lateness, overcrowding, driver shortages, and faulty realtime information boards.

Greater Wellington Regional Council, which is responsible for the new network, commissioned an independent review earlier this year to find out what it could have done better. The report, by LEK Consulting, was released yesterday.

It found the public transport team in charge of the rollout was not equipped for the job, while councillors had underestimated the impact of the changes.

‘‘The collective capability of the public transport team and dedicated programme team was insufficient for the transformational nature of the changes required,’’ the report said. ‘‘The programme team was proactive in identifying capability gaps, although this was often later than required.’’

The report found the councillors who signed off the changes did not have sufficient information to make the right decisions. The councillors ‘‘did not fully appreciate programme risks’’ because the information they were working with was at an ‘‘aggregate’’ level, rather than a local level, it said.

The council failed to provide realistic expectations for commuters, despite being aware of the significant risks. While new routes, timetables, and fares were delivered on time, other aspects were delayed.

That was because the new network was not phased in, there was a lack of route testing, and the council did not have enough information from bus operators, the report said. Awarding operator contracts also failed to identify ‘‘major challenges’’. However, some operators were not providing accurate information to the council, and some factors were outside of its control.

In a statement, the regional council acknowledged the report’s conclusion that its public transport team fell wide of the mark. However, it also noted the report said the council had a robust governance structure in place, and several elements of the new network were delivered on time.

It also said it had relied on bus operators to be ‘‘forthcoming, timely, and transparent about their true state of readiness’’.

Council chairman Chris Laidlaw said progress was well under way to fix the problems. ‘‘Since July, we have been listening and working closely with community groups and operators to increase services, adjust timetables, ensure the right size bus turns up, and provide better data and information to the public, and put things right.’’