Commuters waiting at a bus stop on Lambton Quay, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Commuters waiting at a bus stop on Lambton Quay, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Metlink officials admit they didn’t properly assess the effect of a reduced bus timetable in January before it was introduced- a move which left passengers packed into buses like sardines and stranded at bus stops.
The public was given just one day’s notice that most Porirua and Wellington City buses would be running on a Saturday timetable for the entire month.
The timetable was a 20 per cent reduction in services on top of the more than 200 services already temporarily suspended.
Metlink officials also acknowledged their communication “could have and should have been done in a timelier manner” to allow people to plan ahead.
Their reflections on the chaos that ensued are part of the agenda for an upcoming Greater Wellington Regional Council transport committee meeting.
“Time constraints meant that insufficient analysis was undertaken on potential patronage levels. This led to unanticipated capacity issues on certain routes at certain times directly impacting customers,” officials said.
“As soon as this became apparent officers worked hard with independent bus operators to increase capacity on these routes.”
The reduced timetable was designed as a breather as the region continues to struggle with a shortage of 120 bus drivers (about 650 bus drivers are required to run the full network timetable).
It allowed for holiday leave and vital recruitment and training over January when patronage is generally low.
But as more Wellingtonians returned from holiday last month, it became increasingly clear the Saturday timetable was untenable.
One bus stop had about 120 people waiting at it one morning, while some commuters in Brooklyn gave up altogether and worked from home.
Metlink was forced to reintroduce more buses to its network early to urgently boost capacity.
Officials have since said that if further service cancellations were needed in the future, they would ensure planning included contingencies for capacity to meet demand.
Greater Wellington Regional Council councillor Thomas Nash said bus cancellations have stabilised. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But transport committee chairman councillor Thomas Nash hoped that will not be necessary.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but the latest information we have suggests that we have stabilised in terms of bus cancellations, it is still problematic, but it does not appear to be getting significantly worse.”
If bus operator recruitment campaigns went to plan, cancellations should start reducing and temporarily suspended services could be reinstated in the second half of this year, Nash said.
NZ Bus reported 15 new drivers have joined the company already this year following a domestic campaign.
About 100 suitable candidates from overseas have also accepted offers of employment.
Eight new drivers have already arrived in the country with approved visas and a further 25 new drivers will be arriving later this month.
Tranzurban has made job offers to 17 overseas drivers and a further 19 potential drivers are at the interview phase.
Asked why there was inadequate planning for January’s Saturday timetable, Nash said a huge amount of work had already gone into making other temporary service reductions in recent months.
“That probably left us with less time than we would have liked to tailor a further reduced timetable for the January period.”
He said the timetable was inadequate and he has apologised for the situation.
It was good the organisation had learned from it but frustrating that it came by way of significant inconvenience and disruption, Nash said.
“I’ll be doing everything I possibly can to make sure any changes to our timetable and to our level of service are meticulously well-planned and extremely well-communicated.”
