Anger greets plan to shift intercity buses to Manukau

A plan to shift intercity bus services from central Auckland to Manukau has been labelled “bloody nonsense” by a business leader and a “killer” for a regular 81-year-old user.

Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett supports a suggestion by Herald columnist Brian Rudman for intercity buses to be based around Queens Wharf.

This follows Auckland Transport wanting to move the main intercity bus terminal at SkyCity and bus parks used by Naked Bus and Mana Bus on Quay St to a new $35 million bus-train interchange at Manukau.

Forcing bus passengers on to an- other bus or the train to find their way into the central city from Manukau, 24km away, was “just a bloody nonsense”, said Barnett.

“Every international city I have visited has its inter-city transport services terminate in the central city.”

Rita Grenyer, 72, who has an 81-year-old sister in New Plymouth who regularly travels by bus to Auckland, said getting off the bus at Manukau and on to a train to Britomart would be a killer: “I do hope common sense prevails.”

Matua resident Wendy Davies said it was already a problem for her 92-year-old deaf mother to get from her Milford home to the central city to catch a bus to visit her adult children.

“We will not be arranging Driving Miss Daisy or a taxi service from or to Manukau City and her home in Milford. It is not feasible. The effect on her welfare will be enormous.”

In a letter to Auckland Transport, Bus and Coach Association chief executive Barry Kidd said a bus-train interchange in Manukau would make travel more complicated and stressful — especially for the vulnerable.

Travellers would face a 20 per cent increase in long-distance travel costs, he said.

About 500,000 passengers use the long-distance bus service to and from Auckland each year.

Auckland Council chief executive Stephen Town has arranged a meeting with Auckland Transport today to discuss the issue in response to a request from the Bus and Coach Association.

One discussion point, Town said, would be who would pay for any land to provide a new bus terminal in the central city.

Auckland Transport has said the depot at SkyCity will no longer be available from later this year and road space is at a premium from construction projects in the CBD.

After investigating seven alternative sites in the CBD and other town centres, Auckland Transport believed Manukau offered the best solution.

A mayoral spokeswoman said Phil Goff had been briefed on the issue but did not have a position.