It also follows opposition to November’s changes from businesses and motorists, with reports Auckland Transport (AT) was dishing out more than $100,000 a week in fines to those caught using the lane.
But the backdown came despite AT saying the lanes had helped make buses faster, that they had been effective and “there is a need for them on weekends”.
Auckland Transport's decision to cut bus lane operating hours is a reversal of changes made less than six months ago when the lanes’ operating hours were extended to include mornings and weekends last November. Photo / Dean Purcell
And while one business leader has hailed the reversal as “a good compromise”, a public transport advocate said AT had “taken fright very easily because of a specific pressure group”.
The decision on the bus lane changes was outlined in a business report due to go before AT’s board of directors today. The decision was based on concerns from businesses about the impact the lanes had on shop patronage.
AT’s report, completed by chief executive Dean Kimpton, said: “We recognise the weekend is an important time for Karangahape Rd businesses. Therefore, we will remove bus lane operating hours in the weekend and in the weekday mornings”.
What’s changing and why?
AT’s infrastructure and fleet specification manager Edward Wright said AT had met with the Karangahape Business Association several times since November and “following these interactions, we have agreed to reduce the bus lane hours in the short-term”.
Wright said: “Bus lanes help to deliver the fast and reliable journey times our customers expect.
“While the bus lanes on Karangahape Rd are effective and there is a need for them on weekends, we have listened to local businesses and heard their concerns. We are making these changes on this basis.
“These bus lane operating hours are an increase from what was in place last year which is of benefit to people travelling on the many bus services to and through here.”
The new times all bus lanes on Karangahape Rd will operate are as follows:
North side of the street: 7am-10am and 3pm-7pm weekdays
South side of the street: 3pm-7pm.
Both sides: No bus lanes on weekends
For those caught using the lanes during the current hours they operate, AT would not reverse their fines. Wright said this was because “they were valid at the time of being issued”.
The bus lane camera would remain and the lanes would continue to be enforced under the new times, he said.
Karangahape Road in central Auckland, and the bus lane before the left turn into Howe St in January 2023. Photo / Google
Businesses pleased, transport advocates disappointed
Karangahape Road Business Association chairwoman Muy Chhour told the Herald she was pleased with the changes, saying it was a “good compromise”.
“Albeit [having taken] over six months to get to this point, I think it’s great for the community and great for the business district because the bus lanes just simply weren’t working for us.
“It’s great [AT] has actually heard our concerns and made those changes. It’s just been very slow-going, unfortunately.”
Chhour questioned the need for bus lanes, particularly on weekends.
However, public transport advocate Patrick Reynolds said reducing the bus lanes’ operating hours “feels very much like a backward step” and disputed the negative impacts the lanes would have had on businesses.
Reynolds said bus lanes were important, and reducing their hours would increase travel times for bus users moving between the central city and west Auckland. He also said bus lanes were still important on weekends, highlighting how work patterns had changed since Covid-19.
“In practical terms, [AT] is choosing the car parking of a small number of people over everybody else using buses on K Rd - which is one of the core bus corridors,” Reynolds said.
“This is very much against bus users, especially the people way out west who have already had a long bus ride in, and then just a kilometre away from their destination they’re held up by a few car parks on K Rd.”
He said AT’s change of heart was disappointing and believed AT had relented to the pressure of businesses.
“[In AT’s statement], they’re being very clear that they don’t agree [with the businesses],” Reynolds said.
“I mean ... they’re not saying, ‘we’ve looked at [traffic] volumes and there’s less demand than expected and fewer buses than there used to be so there’s no need for bus priority’. They’re not saying anything other than they’ve been pressured.”
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
