Bus lane busts rising again, but it's 'business as usual'

Offenders are being caught on Quay Street, but only if outside the 50m allowed for left turns. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Auckland Transport is calling its enforcement of bus lanes "business as usual" despite a public outcry which prompted former city councillors to direct staff to exercise greater leniency.

The new Auckland Council subsidiary sent out more infringement tickets last month - the first since taking over parking and bus-lane enforcement - than went to errant motorists in November last year.

It issued 1779 tickets over 36km of bus lanes within the old Auckland City Council's territory - worth a potential $266,850 in fines at $150 each, and markedly more than the 1640 notices sent out the previous November.

But it said last month's result was inflated by three days of tickets that were carried over from a data system "brownout" at the end of October, giving a truer figure for last month of 1617 tickets.

Public anger fuelled by a Herald campaign earlier this year was such that the former council decided in September to direct staff to treat motorists with greater leniency.

The council's transport committee said tickets should be issued only where motorists used bus lanes "well in excess" of the statutory 50-metre allowance for vehicles using the lane to make left turns.

Agency spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said bus-lane enforcement in the Super City had so far been "business as usual with little, if any, change to enforcement practices".

"Members of the public would not have noticed any change in operational activity," she said.

Average daily ticket numbers for this and last November were markedly lower than the 113 for the full 2009-10 financial year - which produced a total of 41,169 tickets worth almost $6.2 million.

But that annual figure was inflated by $2,845,500 in notices for violations of a new day-time traffic ban on Grafton Bridge, which the previous council didn't enforce until after November last year - it's no longer yielding so many fines as people have become more familiar with it.

Former Auckland City Mayor John Banks came under heavy fire in the election contest after it was revealed he and his Citizens and Ratepayers allies set out to raise $12 million more in bus lane and parking fines in the final term of the council to hold down rates.

New Auckland Mayor Len Brown said during the race that popular support for bus lanes would be essential for boosting public transport use in the Super City "but we will not be using tickets for revenue support".

Commuters from eastern suburbs have noticed the return to Quay Street of an enforcement officer and video camera after an absence of several weeks.

Because he was standing only about 10 metres from the intersection, some suspected Auckland Transport may be tightening the enforcement screws.

But a visit by the Herald found he was only filming vehicles travelling at least 80m along the lane.

He was observed filming two cars and a van between 8.40am and 8.55am, when he began packing up.

Over the 30 minutes the Herald was there, the lane was used by 15 buses, 23 motorcycles or scooters and nine bicycles, alongside two general traffic lanes.

Ms Hunter said her organisation was encouraged by a survey of 402 Auckland drivers for information technology company IBM, which found 51 per cent favoured better public transport.

The survey also found that almost a third of Auckland drivers believed traffic congestion was harming their health and performance at work or in classes.