Lengthening a bus lane along a busy commuter exit from downtown Auckland is no substitute for a deferred $15.6 million bus station, says former North Shore mayor George Wood.
Mr Wood has welcomed word that Auckland Transport will try to extend within three months a westbound bus lane along Fanshawe St to the Northern Motorway, by about 400 metres back to Albert St.
That will be the first new stretch of bus lane under Auckland Mayor Len Brown, and the council transport body expects it to ease homeward commuting times for more than 8000 North Shore residents between 4pm and 6pm each weekday.
A commitment by Auckland Transport chairman Lester Levy to lengthen the lane within three months, depending on planning approval, follows lobbying by the Campaign for Better Transport, youth organisation Generation Zero, and the TransportBlog.
Mr Wood, an Auckland Council member, said that was sorely needed as he was recently on a bus that took 37 minutes to reach the motorway from The Civic theatre. But he was very disappointed a proposal to build a bus station opposite Victoria Park for growing numbers of commuters working at the Wyndham Quarter and beyond had been deferred by two years - to 2016-2017.
