Call to find safer Kerikeri bus stop
Frustrated bus drivers and shopkeepers are calling for Kerikeri’s coach stop to be moved before someone is hurt due to traffic chaos.
Buses to and from Auckland, Kaitaia and Paihia stop outside the Spa & Pool store on Cobham Rd, but as the size and frequency of coaches — not to mention the number of cars in Kerikeri — have increased, so too have problems for drivers and nearby businesses.
Merv Gray, who drives the Kerikeri-Auckland route, said problems peaked when passengers had to transfer between Kaitaia and Auckland buses.
There was not enough room for two buses by the kerb so one had to double park, blocking one lane of Cobham Rd. That meant cars and trucks had to drive on to the wrong side of the road to get past, and passengers had to go on to the road to board or load luggage. It also meant buses couldn’t use their ramps for elderly or disabled passengers.
In January an 84-year-old Kerikeri man fell as he was trying to get off the bus and was uninjured only because he landed on a suitcase, Gray said. A truck is forced on to the wrong side of Cobham Rd to get around double-parked buses.
Gray said bus drivers were copping abuse from frustrated motorists but there was nothing they could do.
He urged the Far North District Council to shift the coach stop across the road outside the library as a temporary measure until Kerikeri’s wider traffic issues could be sorted out.
“The buses are having trouble, people are ranting and raving, trucks and cars are going on the wrong side of the
road to get past, we’ve has elderly people fall out of the bus . . . The bus stop just isn’t big enough and everybody’s had enough. All it needs is to shift the bus stop across the road so we can do our job without being abused.”
Sap & Pool Bay of Islands owner Mike Schofield said the bus stop used to be outside Subway but was relocated outside his store as a supposed temporary measure after the laundromat fire.
“It’s actually very, very dangerous. You’ve got buses that have to double park, people who reverse out of the parking spaces across the road, bus patrons crossing the road to use the toilets and cars coming out of a service lane . . . I’ve had three near misses, I’m surprised no one’s been hurt.”
Because there was no seating sometimes shop staff had to help elderly passengers by giving them a place to rest.
“Kerikeri’s a growing town and it needs a bus stop that’s fit for purpose,” Schofield said.
Alison Murdoch, manager of the adjacent St John op shop, also feared for people’s safety.
“I see it every day and it’s shocking,” she said.
Terry Greening, chairman of the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board, said council staff had met bus drivers and St John area committee members and agreed the current situation “wasn’t flash”.
The council was looking at setting up a temporary bus stop outside the library on the other side of Cobham Rd until a proper coach stop could be built.
Staff were now carrying out a safety audit to make sure they didn’t solve one safety problem and create another.
Other alternatives considered in a council report, but so far rejected, included an area next to Cobham Rd bridge, outside the SPCA on Kerikeri Rd, next to the post office on Hobson Ave, Klinac Lane in Waipapa, or next to the fire station.
Gray said the only safe and workable option was outside the library. Shelter was available, ramps could be used, and passengers could change buses and use public toilets without crossing the road.
The disadvantages of the library site, according to the council report, are the loss of four high-use car parks and a loading area.