Bus route changes cause commuter chaos on Auckland's North Shore

NZ Herald

1 Oct, 2018 06:15 AM4 mins to read

More than 13 buses were backed up along Constellation Drive just after 6pm tonight as the new bus network introduced for the North Shore yesterday ran into some snags. Photo / Supplied

The bus routes between the North Shore and Auckland CBD have changed and it's causing chaos for commuters.

Commuters report Constellation Drive is gridlocked and have counted a queue of buses waiting to get onto the busway.

Auckland Transport introduced the new bus network on the North Shore from September 30, saying it would make it simpler and be better connected with more buses coming more often.

The new network includes a second Northern Express, the NX2, to take customers from Northern Busway stations to Wellesley St and the city centre universities every five minutes at peak times, and every 10 to 15 minutes at other times.

But instead of being spaced out, the buses appear to have all arrived on the North Shore at the same time.

On Twitter Aimee Shaw labelled it "day two of bus commute hell". "Just waited in a bus jam at Constellation Station for the usual duration of my trip home. @AklTransport I thought changes are meant to make the system more efficient?," she tweeted.

Day two of bus commute hell. Just waited in a bus jam at Constellation Station for the usual duration of my trip home. @AklTransport I thought changes are meant to make the system more efficient?
— Aimee Shaw (@AceeyShaw) October 1, 2018

Justine Finlay tweeted: "Wow @AklTransport what a disaster the new north shore bus system is! Constellation is gridlocked! I hope you will have this sorted out before tomorrow evening's commute! Lots of people in orange vests but not a lot of action!!"

So the new North Shore bus system has been implemented and uhhhh

We were stuck at Constellation for 15 minutes ty Auckland Transport 😬 pic.twitter.com/9JlrgZTY5f
— nort (@natsum77) October 1, 2018

AT spokesman Mark Hannan said they had been some expecting teething issues at Constellation Station due to the extra buses being added to the network and would work on a solution to get buses through the station faster tomorrow.

"We will be working through this and trying to speed up getting the buses through the station, but it may take a few days to settle. We were expecting that there might be some issues in the afternoon so we will have a look at the situation in the morning and see what we can do to free up things over the coming days."

@AklTransport umm - what's happening with the jam of busses heading into Constellation?
— Simon Rowles / Beyonde (@SimonRowles1) October 1, 2018

@AklTransport is there a reason why there's a queue of buses on the Northern Busway heading into Constellation Station?
— Jessica Marshall (@jm64892) October 1, 2018

Photographic evidence in case you want it. pic.twitter.com/kZgEe0YWLD
— Jessica Marshall (@jm64892) October 1, 2018

Apologies, that queue of buses is going the other way too.
— Jessica Marshall (@jm64892) October 1, 2018

Now 30 minutes waiting to get to Northcote/Hillcrest from Fanshawe Street during peak time and the only bus that goes past is full. Seen 5 half empty 82s now! #busforshore #aucklandtransport pic.twitter.com/B0p4W3LSrl
— Jono Hayes (@JonoHayes2) October 1, 2018

@AklTransport the new 883 bus service is showing on the AT Mobile app as “this bus service hasn’t started yet” and there’s no signage around where the new bus stop is planned, in Aberley Road. When will this new service be starting?
— ❤️💚 Just call me Lis 💚❤️ (@AlisaSmith) October 1, 2018

@AklTransport ... constellation station is a bit messy with that new timetable. pic.twitter.com/ZhMCrRyciu
— nzruss (@nzruss) October 1, 2018

@AklTransport Constellation station had quite a carnival atmosphere tonight. Nearly more buses then people
— Mark Corrigan (@mcrcr96) October 1, 2018

@AklTransport your Albany station is broken 😡
— Ben Metcalfe (@bmetcalfenz) October 1, 2018

Absolutely ridiculous! The buses used to run quickly & efficiently. Tonight our NX1 has been queued up outside Constallation for over 10 minutes & still waiting to enter the station with several buses ahead. This isn't expecting some delays with a change, it's poor planning.
— Angela Lappan-Daley (@angela_lappan) October 1, 2018

Who was the laser brain that decided to have an NX2 bus where some of them terminate at Constellation? I suppose it was way too hard to have an NX2A and an NX2C so your customers actually know which one they are catching? Stupid idea
— Dave Graham (@500_rg) October 1, 2018

So where is the communication to tell customers that not all NX2 buses leaving from downtown goes all the way to Albany? There were a lot of unhappy people on the one I was on tonight, including me. What an absolute joke, some bus number but different routes.
— Dave Graham (@500_rg) October 1, 2018