Better buses and rail the answer

This is the final in a five-part series examining the multimillion-dollar improvements to Auckland's motorways.

It is a fair bet that nine out of 10 Aucklanders hardly ever use public transport - bus, rail or ferry. Many may not have have caught a bus since their schooldays.

And rail is just emerging from the days when only masochists caught the train - they enjoyed wondering whether it would arrive late or at all.

How much do we rely on motor vehicles?

So much that there is about one car for every two people in the Auckland region. If that trend continues - and nobody has said it will not - there will be a lot more cars in 2021. By then experts expect the region's population to be about 1.65 million instead of the present 1.3 million.

What will 350,000 more people mean?

That Auckland is edging towards a crunch point. There will be room for only so many cars in peak hours. Traffic on the motorways and arterial roads will be managed so it does not gridlock. You may have to queue to get on a motorway.

Planners now recognise that building more and more motorways beyond the present planned system is not a solution. And, conversely, that many in diverse, spread-out Auckland will continue to rely on cars. But there will have to be much better public transport.

What can we hope for from public transport?

Watch for a revolution in bus travel and a gradual but continuing improvement in train and ferry services. Watch particularly for signs public transport is becoming more user friendly - reliable, on time, co-ordinated and offering secure park-and-ride facilities and good security at bus and rail stations.

There were seven rail stations receiving some attention late last year, part of 11 using a $25.5 million grant from Infrastructure Auckland. The goal is 20 million rail passengers a year by 2015.

Is the use of public transport increasing now?

Yes. In a new report, the Auckland Regional Council says, for example, that public transport use increased 10.2 per cent between 1996 and 2001 (the last census date). Sound great? Actually, it isn't good enough.

The number of public transport trips as a proportion of total trips to work was 6.8 per cent in 1996 and almost identical at 7 per cent in 2001. But the population increase meant an extra 25,000 cars being driven to work in 2001. Population increases as high as 40,000 a year in each of the past couple of years emphasise the problem.

Is public transport use spread evenly about the region?

No. Only about 7 per cent of trips to work by Aucklanders involve public transport. The Central Business District does best. The Auckland City Council says about 73,000 people enter the CBD from 7am to 9am each weekday. About 44,000 (60 per cent) come by car, with 27,000 (37 per cent) using public transport (mostly buses but also trains or ferries). About 2000 walk or cycle.

The CBD has the biggest pool of jobs in the region - about 65,000. But the inner city is now reckoned by the Auckland Regional Council to account for only 12 to 13 per cent of the region's jobs.

What are some reasons you might catch a peak-hour bus, or train or ferry in future?

1. You might get to work at least as fast as sitting in queues of traffic. Priority bus lanes and especially the $290 million Northern Busway to the harbour bridge in particular will help the flow of public transport.

2. The Northern Busway and the Auckland rail routes will not be affected by traffic. With peak-hour road travel times lengthening, they should have a real advantage in future. This can already be seen in the increasing numbers using trains to avoid the Southern Motorway. Even with minimal improvements in the week service, a survey last March found 16,000 people using the trains each weekday, up from 12,000 the year before.

3. You might arrive at work feeling calm and having read the paper.

And some reasons you might not catch the bus, train or ferry?

1. There may not be public transport that connects easily between home and work. Planners talk of housing more people near arterial roads and count how many live within a kilometre of a railway line. But most people choose a job they want, whether it's near home, or handy to public transport or not.

2. You might have to use vehicle for your work.

3. Public transport might not suit other commitments, like picking up a child from school or daycare. Planners recognise the issues are complicated. They say a range of improvements from better bus services to minor things like walkways, cycleways and even school "walking buses" can all reduce traffic congestion.

Driving children and students to school or educational institutes, for example, is estimated to account for up to 40 per cent of Auckland's morning peak traffic.

What is being done to make buses more attractive?

Projects are already in place, many not very visible because they are so widely scattered. An Auckland Regional Council report to 2003 lists more than 130 being acted on across the Auckland isthmus. They vary from bus lanes (reserved at certain hours for buses or cars with more than two occupants), to all sorts of other minor improvements.

There are also a dozen specific projects relating to bus priority lanes in Transit NZ's 10-year plans for Auckland motorways, seven of them on the Northwestern. Also, new motorways now being built (Southwestern and Upper Harbour) have provision for future busways.

Along bus lanes will flow modern buses avoiding some of the worst congestion. Since 1995 Auckland bus operators have invested $132 million in 617 new buses, including 314 super-low-floor accessible buses. A further 295 buses costing $90 million are planned before December 2006.

What is new about the bus plans?

Bus lanes are being planned in a cohesive pattern. Easily the best illustration is the plans for the 7.3km, two-way Northern Busway. The busway itself, the first in the country, will have two 80km/h lanes alongside the Northern Motorway connecting five North Shore City bus stations to be built along the motorway.

But this busway spine is only part of the scheme by Transit NZ, North Shore, Auckland City and the Auckland Regional Council with its new Auckland Regional Transport Authority subsidiary.

The key will be the bus priority lanes (see map) coming to the North Shore roading network in the next few years. A web of new bus stations, east-west bus services, loop services in local catchments near the busway, express buses and the like will improve services on the North Shore and between there, Rodney and Auckland City.

Auckland City also plans a series of bus priority lanes starting along Fanshawe St, leading to parts of the central city, improving city access for North Shore commuters.

There is a $14.9 million project for Fanshawe St. It will be widened and dedicated two-way, 24-hour bus lanes added. When the Northern Busway is finished, 120 buses an hour are expected to use the Fanshawe lanes in the morning peak.

Why catch a bus under the new system?

The service is intended to be frequent and reliable. In peak hours a bus should pass near your home every 15 minutes.

The first new bus stations on the Northern Motorway will be at Albany and along the busway at Constellation late this year. Sunnynook, Westlake and Akoranga will follow in late 2007. The stations will cater for those arriving by bus, on foot or cycle or those dropped off by a car. Farther back from Albany towards Orewa, buses will mingle with traffic in the meantime.

The busway stations will have "real time" information telling you when the next bus will arrive. Closed circuit cameras will provide security. Transit NZ's project director, Clive Fuhr, even talks of developments such as self-scanning tickets to speed passengers on to buses.

What advantages will the Northern Busway offer?

Transit calculates that on a typical day the priority measures on local North Shore streets and busway travel at 80km/h, irrespective of motorway conditions, may give a traveller from Browns Bay an advantage of five to 15 minutes over motorway traffic. In rain or heavy congestion the advantages of busway travel could be greater.

They suggest another advantage for commuters is that busway trips should take about the same time each day. Car drivers in the morning Northern Motorway peak (6.30am to 9.30am) now have travel times which can vary widely from day to day.

How much will we be bossed around over using public transport?

Wait and see. There are some very fine balances in play. Bus lanes, for example, still need to be designed and run to minimally disrupt other vital heavy transport.

The best answer about whether more people will catch buses, trains and ferries in future may lie in these two ferry questions.

Why do Waiheke Islander commuters catch ferries? Answer: Not many cars float. Why do numbers of Devonport commuters catch the ferry to work? Answer: To avoid the Auckland Harbour Bridge.