Link bus adverts 'misleading'

Signs on buses following the Link route do not warn of potential delays to the service. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Stagecoach's claim that its Link bus service runs every 10 minutes has been ruled misleading after a passenger complained of sometimes waiting for up to 40 minutes.

The Advertising Standards Complaints Board upheld a complaint about the claim, ruling that Stagecoach's website advertising for the city service was misleading.

The Link service runs in a loop around Ponsonby Rd, the CBD, Karangahape Rd, Newmarket and Parnell.

Of the claim that the buses ran "every 10 minutes", the board said: "There was a passenger expectation that a bus would be available every 10 minutes on the route and, as that had not been the case in the consumer's experience, the Complaints Board ruled that the website advertisement was misleading ... "

Although the ruling only applies directly to the website advertising, the decision could be costly if Stagecoach has to change the signs on its Link buses and any posters at bus stops which contain the claim without a warning of delays.

The same 10-minute claim was also used to promote the City Circuit service.

Stagecoach commercial director Ian Turner said the company was taking legal advice about the decision.

"But we are puzzled by the response and the decision."

Stagecoach had argued that most people using public transport in Auckland were realistic about the possibility of delays.

It noted complaints about the route were few - during February, almost 200,000 passengers used the Link and 17 complaints were received, of which eight related to running times.

"The fact that only 0.004 per cent of passengers using the Link bus service have raised issues with Stagecoach regarding the running times suggests that Stagecoach does an excellent job at meeting the timetable requirements."

Its GPS electronic signs at bus stops advised passengers when a bus was running late and printed timetables warned buses could be delayed by "weather, special events and traffic", although the warning was not included in signage on the buses or the Link web page.

The board noted a similar complaint was upheld in 2005 against an Airbus service from the city to the airport, for which the advertisement claimed it called at hotels and backpackers every 20 minutes.

When the Herald visited the Vulcan Lane bus stop from 2.30pm to 3.30pm yesterday, seven Link buses arrived at intervals of between seven and 10 minutes.

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Lingering around Vulcan Lane to catch the long and the short of it

At the Vulcan Lane bus stop on Queen St, the Link buses chug in with a regularity that pokes a stick in the eye of the Advertising Standards Authority.

At 2.54pm, James Creighton runs to the stop weighed down with a shopping bag just as one Link bus is leaving. Unperturbed, he sits down to wait.

A regular user of the service between the CBD and Ponsonby, the 17-year-old hasn't noticed any great discrepancies although he says it's probably less regular up in Ponsonby than near the Britomart departure point.

"They're pretty good." And when they aren't he's not overly bothered either, "unless it's raining".

Link buses are supposed to arrive every 10 minutes during the day from Monday to Saturday, and every 15 minutes at night and on Sunday.

But yesterday, just seven minutes later, at 3.03pm, the Link arrived and James was off.

Jean McGeorge, a law student in her 30s, takes his place. She has tasted the public transport experience in Europe, and takes a different view.

"They are really erratic. You'll get two buses at the some time and then nothing for 20 minutes and that's incredibly frustrating. I know lots of people who comment on that. Why can the public transport system stay on time in Europe but not here?

"It makes catching public transport a pleasure, whereas here it's a total frustration."

Still, the buses keep rolling in with European regularity.

In that hour seven buses rolled in. The shortest wait was seven minutes; the longest was 10.