City looks at letting cars use bus lanes

Auckland City is considering opening parts of its expanding network of bus lanes to private vehicles with more than two or three occupants.

Its transport committee decided yesterday - on the casting vote of chairman Ken Baguley after a 3-3 split - to earmark new bus lanes in Remuera Rd and Tamaki Drive for a possible trial allowing "high occupancy vehicles" to use a road area now banned to all traffic except buses.

A go-ahead for the trial still depends on what the committee decides after receiving a staff report next month on timeframes and costs of converting bus lanes on either road into T2 or T3 lanes, indicating the number of occupants required for cars eligible to use them.

City council officers are likely to propose opening bus lanes in one of the two roads for the trial, leaving those on the alternative route closed to all traffic except buses.

This would enable them to make comparisons between the two systems.

Acting transport strategy group manager Brian Tomlinson said that if one route gained improved traffic flows, that may attract more commuters to it, taking pressure off the other.

But the mere suggestion of opening part of the council's 32km network of bus lanes drew strong protests from minority City Vision members at yesterday's committee meeting.

They urged the ruling Citizen and Ratepayers team to uphold the integrity of the network, against vocal opponents of bus lanes which the council introduced six months ago along much of Remuera Rd.

Told that only 71 per cent of general vehicles using Remuera Rd in the morning peak period was staying out of the bus lanes, but that no drivers had received $150 infringement notices, Cathy Casey said that "the good people of Remuera need to be aggressively enforced".

Mr Tomlinson said the council was achieving almost 98 per cent compliance in its established bus lanes, where video cameras are used to catch offenders.

But it was still sending only warning letters to Remuera Rd offenders because its lanes were a recent addition.

He said congestion on the road, which had been tempting queue-jumpers to use bus lanes, was exacerbated by a series of roadworks.

City Vision councillor Graeme Easte said the council had previously resisted pressure from the Taxi Federation and others to open the bus lanes to high-occupancy vehicles, and should be aware of the risks of reducing the time savings needed by buses to attract more passengers.

His political teammate Leila Boyle said there was also a danger of slowing general traffic as high-occupancy vehicles tried to weave around stationary buses, and she found preparations for the trial "quite disturbing" because of the ramifications for the rest of the city's network.

But Mr Baguley, a Remuera resident, said no decision on the trial would be made before the committee received a full staff report next month.

He also won support from his Citizens and Ratepayers team, against opposition from City Vision, for replacing limited sections of bus lanes with clearways where necessary to improve traffic flows along Remuera Rd.

The committee also yesterday noted that the Remuera Rd bus lanes were creating greater than expected public transport benefits, after officers reported that buses accounting for just 2 per cent of peak-time traffic carried up to 45 per cent of people travelling along the corridor.

LANE COMPLIANCE
* Remuera Rd - 71 per cent - offenders receiving warning notices only.
* Other city bus lanes - almost 92 per cent - offenders fined $150.