Trip home for commuters a daily grind

Auckland bus commuters need to allow lots of time for their homeward journey. Photo / Doug Sherring

High-tech locator systems on Auckland buses reveal for the first time the lengths to which commuters go, just to get home from work.

Data from GPS systems on city buses shows it takes longer to commute home from the CBD to Botany Downs, in eastern Manukau, than it does for Government ministers to fly home from Wellington to Auckland.

The No 680 bus from Britomart takes an hour and six minutes to get to Botany Town Centre - a distance of only 21km. That trip is completed at a sluggish 19km/h.

Howick & Eastern Buses chief executive Bill Dalbeth said a major frustration was congestion on Ti Rakau Drive.

"It would be fabulous for public transport to have a southeastern route that had bus lanes," he said.

Dalbeth said the company had been focused on increasing services on the Botany routes, but may look at providing express services in future.

The No 154 route to New Lynn in the west is even worse: 43 minutes to travel just 13km, at a distinctly snail-like 18km/h.

Aucklanders commute further and longer to work than anyone else in New Zealand, though Tauranga, Hamilton and Wellington have also battled congestion - to greater or lesser degrees.

Wellingtonians continue to use public transport extensively, and bus patronage in Hamilton has increased dramatically in the past two years.

In Auckland, the $300m Northern Busway up State Highway 1 to Albany has dramatically improved travel times north - but that is little consolation to those west or south of the Harbour Bridge.

From the south, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority data shows, Manukau commuters spend an hour travelling 23km to the city, on average - with times varying by up to 23 per cent.

ARTA's strategy and planning general manager Peter Clark said the Northern Busway had proven that investment in fast, reliable services pays off.

Patronage on the Northern Express has almost doubled last year, while all other Auckland bus services increased by 7.8 per cent.

Clark said integrated ticketing would help improve times for all services, cutting the time buses are stopped while drivers collect money and issue tickets.

"Boarding times make up a lot of the time it takes for the bus to complete the journey. Integrated tickets or smartcard ticketing would significantly reduce those times."

Tenders for supplying a smartcard fare system for Auckland are now being considered.

Clark said services would also be faster with the completion of the Central Connector, a $43m rapid busway from the city to Newmarket, due for completion in 2010. Auckland City Council expects the project to cut 14 minutes from peak time trips through the city.

But relief for eastern commuters is further off, with the first stages of the $1.3 billion Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (AMETI) not likely to start until 2016.

The project will provide bus lanes and new bus interchanges for the eastern suburbs.

HIGHWAY TO HELL

The song playing loudly from one passenger's cellphone was AC/DC's Highway to Hell - and that may well have summed up how passengers were feeling as the No 680 to Botany chugged eastward on Thursday night.

The timetable said the 5.15pm service from Britomart would take 55 minutes to reach Botany.

Data from bus GPS systems show it takes more than an hour on average. My trip took an hour and 15 minutes.

Mission Heights resident Breethy Jaya and friend Jo said the long journey left them exhausted. "We always get off the bus so tired. The bus stops all the time."

Lisa So takes the No 680 home every night, and says congestion causes long delays. "Khyber Pass and Symonds St are always blocked up," she says.

Roadworks on both streets slowed Thursday's trip, despite quieter school holidays traffic. Howick commuter Alan said the holidays can usually cut 15 minutes from his homeward journey.

The bus took 30 minutes to travel the 4km to Newmarket - including nine minutes just to inch out on to Customs St among the crush of buses leaving Britomart.

It was another 30 minutes for the 12km trip stretch from Newmarket to Pakuranga.

Just shy of Botany Town Centre the bus veered into the Howick & Eastern buses depot to change drivers, before arriving at Botany at 6.30pm.

Mansi Parikh said the journey was frustrating, and there should be an express bus for Botany Downs residents. "We need something that doesn't stop all the time."