Bus lane anger falls on deaf ears

Ninety-five per cent of drivers using Symonds St obey the 50m rule for crossing bus lanes, according to the city council. Photo / Dean Purcell

A public call to relax rules for safer crossing of Auckland's bus lanes has been rejected by the country's land transport agency.

A maximum distance of 50m in a bus lane before an intersection is enough, says Land Transport NZ.

A flood of letters to the Herald yesterday mostly complained that 50m was not long enough to change lanes in order to make a left-hand turn.

Readers asked why the distance allowed could not be extended to 70m.

Many suggested the rule was responsible for the Auckland City Council issuing $4.2 million worth of infringement tickets in the past financial year at the rate of 77 tickets a day.

Land Transport spokesman Ewart Barnsley said the agency expected that crossing to a special vehicle lane would not take any longer than an ordinary lane-crossing manoeuvre.

"Also, we expect that when wanting to safely cross a lane to make a manoeuvre, drivers would reduce their speed rather than travelling at the maximum allowable speed limit.

"In this respect, we expect a minimum distance of 50m to be sufficient."

However, reader Darren Hales-Owen calculated that, driving at 50km/h with 50m of bus lane, "you have only 3.6 seconds of driving before you realise that you may be making a mistake".

Gerard Rooijakkers, another reader, said the rule made a bus lane a revenue-gathering machine like a roulette table at a casino.

"Approaching an intersection, motorists must ensure there is no bus in the lane or a speeding courier cyclist, keep enough distance to the car in front and then have to gauge for an unidentified 50m mark before they can merge into the lane and turn left.

"You've got to be a multi-tasking genius to achieve that in the peak-hour traffic intensity of Auckland City."

Readers also called for the council to mark the start of the 50m with a painted white line or catseyes or with a change of bus lane colour.

However, Mr Barnsley said that when the new rule for special vehicle lanes came in last November, the aim was not for motorists to use the full 50m. They were not turning lanes.

Auckland City Council transport committee chairman Ken Baguley said the council would try to push the 50m out to 70m in some places but it was up to Land Transport, which set the rules.

He said the council had pushed for Tamaki Drive bus lanes to be used by vehicles with two or more occupants but bus-only lanes must remain on heavy public transport routes.

"Council has to use its discretion in a fair and even manner. Just because people going up Symonds St don't keep their wits about them ..."

About 95 per cent of people using Symonds St were obeying the rule.

"But I'm disappointed that 77 are being pinged in a day.

"We went through a lot of angst on Grafton Bridge ... It was 700 a week and we are now down to 300 a week, so people are learning."

Mr Baguley said it was not as simple as marking the 50m line with white paint to help motorists.

"It's a good idea but it just doesn't work. There would be a lot of white lines on the road to mark out 50m from every intersection and driveway.

"And if you did not mark on a particular road and someone got a ticket, they would say, 'You didn't warn me, therefore I should not get pinged."'