Figures can’t hide that buses are still a disaster
Yay! The bustastrophe is over! It’s now five months since the new bus system kicked in and the good news just keeps on coming. According to the latest Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) report, two new bus hubs have been completed, and almost 98 per cent of buses are now not cancelled. Capacity exceeds demand by 4 per cent and ‘‘correct bus allocation’’ occurs 90 per cent of the time.
Even better, nearly 93 per cent of buses are on time at their first stop. And since the November reschedule, our good buddies at Tranzurban have ‘‘lifted to a range of 90.2 per cent to 97.6 per cent ontime performance’’.
But wait, there’s more. The much-maligned real-time information service – those electronic boards that wags on Facebook like to post when they’re on the blink – has ‘‘tracking levels trending towards 98 per cent’’. Have our good friends at GWRC and their special friends Tranzit and NZ Bus worked miracles, or is this just typical PR spin and GWRC bus hub-ris?
Last week, morning buses were still being cancelled – notably on the Houghton Bay and Kingston routes – and cynics noted that at the same time the lucrative cruise ship routes to and from the ferry terminal were working just fine.
In a recent GWRC survey of 563 ‘‘commuters, drivers and community groups’’, a third of them reckoned the new network was worse than the old one, while 45 per cent said it was an improvement.
That contrasts with a survey run by Bus Go Wellington, an advocacy group, of 129 passengers. Sixty-six per cent were not happy with the new network compared with 16 per cent who were happy.
National MP Nicola Willis, hardly an emerald warrior, has found high levels of dissatisfaction with the buses continue. The local list MP surveyed passengers via Facebook in July and then again in November. Though dissatisfaction has decreased since July, it has done so only slightly (83 per cent to 81 per cent).
Willis also points out that GWRC has not even met its own targets with its latest results, and that it is investing $6 million less in buses than it did before the changes. Hopefully someone will tell the onto-it Willis that it is her beloved neo-liberal Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM), designed by her predecessor Steven Joyce, that is partly responsible for this incentive to de-fund public transport.
The disastrous system design, however, is absolutely positively the fault of the GWRC. Then again, if a bus company cancels services, isn’t it meant to pay penalties to GWRC?
Though some GWRC councillors remind me more of members of a Probus morning tea committee than of a crack legal team, they have been telling us that a feature of the tough new contracts they brilliantly designed are the stiff penalties for cancelled services.
As a ratepayer, I would love to know what penalties have been paid and by whom. Alas, though GRWC will tell us what is tracking and trending to the nearest decimal point, CEO Greg Campbell, a significant figure in GRWC, tells us such information is too commercially sensitive.
What? These guys have stuffed up and we should know exactly by how much. You’re worried about their business? I heard a rumour that $300,000 was paid in penalties for the month of September alone. If Mr Campbell thinks I have my numbers wildly wrong, I look forward to him, or his PR team, setting me right and putting me in my decimal place.
According to GRWC, which recently fronted again to a parliamentary select committee, a big problem currently is the ‘‘systemic, ongoing’’ shortage of bus drivers. The trouble is, for those who’ve lived here a while, this shortage isn’t systemic or ongoing. As much as NZ Bus has irritated me on occasions, and some of its spokespeople need to do a charm course, it paid its drivers well.
The staffing problems only kicked in when all its drivers knew that their contracts were about to end so started taking sick leave. When you realise that most drivers who switched companies when the new contracts kicked in lost wages, that many regional councillors hate the Tramways Union, and that one of the bus operators has constantly refused to talk to the union, then the real reason for the ‘‘current, unusual and easily solved’’ driver shortage becomes clear.
There will be a full review by GWRC of the new bus system next year. The biggest benefit of the new system, as described by its architect, Paul Swain, is the reduction of buses in the CBD. Yet one hears very little about it as the CBD is crammed with cars. GWRC has even conceded that it may look at getting rid of some bus hubs if they are found to be ineffective. As I watch the workers scurrying around trying to complete the very late hospital hub in Newtown, I sincerely hope everyone pulls finger before February.
If the ineffective hubs are decommissioned and removed, it would be nice to have brand new completed hubs taken to the dump, and not messy, dangerous unfinished ones.
Asa ratepayer, I would love to know what [cancellation] penalties have been paid and by whom.