A month on and buses are still not turning up

J’accuse! I do not wake up in the morning wanting to write about buses. Frankly, there are more interesting things in life. Like most Wellingtonians, I just want to get a bus if I need to without any drama. But it’s nearly a month now, guys, and your service is shocking.

If you were a bank I would be changing, if you were a tradesperson I’d be warning people not to use you, if you were on a 90-day contract I would fire you. But I can’t because you are the bustastrophe, the balls-up, the clusterbus known as the New Wellington Bus System.

We are now in our fourth week of ‘‘Not in Service’’. The buses have not ‘‘settled in’’, if the tidal wave of complaints on social media are anything to go by. These are, according to Wellington city councillor Dianne Calvert, ‘‘systemic not ‘teething’ issues’’.

It seems we have a structural problem based on badly planned routes, badly written contracts and ridiculous timetables that make passengers feel as though services have been slashed. At the hub of the problem are hubs, which, while great in theory (try the London Tube or Paris Metro if you don’t believe me), need a critical mass of buses to work, and that mass isn’t there.

Even though about 200 good bus drivers became redundant when contracts changed, there are still services being cancelled due to driver shortages. There are still reports of buses driving in the most unlikely places (Bidwill St and Stoke St) because some drivers don’t know their routes. Don’t get me started on the buses to #StickwithVic university. Then there’s the bus that ran out of diesel . . .

Many buses simply don’t turn up and, when they do, they are so full that they drive straight by waiting passengers. So what are you going to do about it Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC)? Or have you run out of diesel, too? Or are you overseas on holiday?

With the notable exception of sustainable transport committee deputy chair Daran Ponter, who valiantly tries to deal with the poonami of flak from angry bus commuters coming his way, there has been a virtual wall of silence. Yes, regional council chairman Chris Laidlaw did correctly point out that the PTOM (public transport operation model) makes it difficult for regional councils. He and others want PTOM modified by the Government.

But where is the action, guys? Our elected representatives should be calmly assuring us that they are on to it. Sort of like after an earthquake, but without hi-vis jackets and free cups of tea.

Did you know Barbara Donaldson is chair of the GWRC regional transport committee? I had to check. I would love to know what Barbara thinks of the new system.

I know what regional councillor Sue Kedgley thinks because she tried to persuade her colleagues not to ditch the trolleys and was studiously ignored. Remember the days when a trolley coming off its lines and quickly being put back on by a cursing driver was the biggest problem on your quick, clean, single-bus commute to work?

Councillor Roger Blakely has explained via social media that Metlink has people on the ground monitoring ‘‘no shows’’ and that sometimes the reason for full buses is that, at some peak times, NZ Bus is having to use smaller buses. Great, but shouldn’t all this have been worked out previously? Like in the last four years when we knew change was coming?

There will be some meetings later in the month when angry commuters can have their say – provided the buses turn up and get them to the meeting on time – but it feels too little, too late.

Last week saw National’s Wellington list MP Nicola Willis survey over 600 residents and find over 70 per cent were less likely to use the buses now. Though I applaud Willis for her action, surely the PTOM model, introduced by the man she replaced in Parliament, Steven Joyce, is partly to blame for Ar-metlink-ageddon?

Willis argues that, while Wellington’s bus system is far from desirable, this is not the case with bus networks in other cities, which seem to be working fine. She makes a good point, though perhaps the weaknesses in PTOM are particularly apparent at contract time. Wellingtonians should look at other cities with interest, especially when contracts are renewed.

In the meantime, I look forward to a comprehensive response to the bus-aclysm from my elected GRWC representatives. If mistakes have been made, own them and tell us what is being done to fix things.

The alternative is that masses of Wellingtonians decide, as I did last week, that they simply can’t trust a bus to get them to their destination on time, so jump in their cars and add to the already chronic and dirty city congestion.

So what are you going to do about it Greater Wellington Regional Council? Or have you run out of diesel, too?