KEY POINTS:
Manukau City has put up extra warning signs along a bus lane in Mangere township, after issuing more than 3500 fines to motorists using it illegally.
About 550 drivers have received more than one fine of $150 each since November.
The city council has agreed to waive 200 or so of these, to allow for postal delivery delays and the possibility that some people may have been unaware of the bus lanes and their repeat offending.
But it says it has no intention of removing the controversial west-bound bus lane, in Bader Drive between Ashgrove Rd and Mascot Ave, after a review confirmed its value in keeping buses running on time along a major route to Mangere Bridge during evening peak periods.
"We don't want drivers to keep getting fined, but the solution isn't to just get rid of the bus lane," said city transportation manager Chris Freke.
"We wouldn't change a speed limit if people were being fined for speeding on a particular street."
He said Bader Drive, which was already a busy bus route, had been identified by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority for development as part of a "quality transport network" of fast and easy public transport.
Manukau Mayor Len Brown said he was concerned to hear of the high number of fines, and asked council staff to investigate these. He said he supported bus lanes as an important tool for making public transport an attractive alternative to private cars, but believed the council needed to be "more sensitive in delivering messages to our communities about changes like this". It would look at working with schools and churches to get the message across.
Mr Freke said Bader Drive accounted for most of the 4000 fines issued for violations of the city's network of bus lanes since November.
Although the Bader Drive lane was designated as long ago as 2003, he acknowledged it remained unpoliced until November, because of a need to gain extra warrant powers for council parking officers.
He said up to 80 fines were typically issued over each two-hour operating period at one stage early this year.
Although the figure was now down to about 20 a day, it remained too high, and he hoped three large signs put up last week to supplement regulation signage would keep motorists out of the lane.
He disclosed that only about 1200 people had so far paid their fines for straying into the lane.
Mr Freke said the council accepted some people issued with two or more infringement notices may not have been aware of their offending during the fortnight it took for these to arrive by mail. It had agreed to waive about 200 notices issued for subsequent offending.
