You wait for ages, then three Link buses arrive at once

Passengers dispute Auckland's Link service runs on time.

The good bus-using citizens of the inner city are in revolt.

Since the Herald reported Stagecoach had been castigated by the Advertising Standards Board for claiming its Link service ran every 10 minutes, tales of buses roaming in gangs of three and of mysterious disappearances have flowed in.

Jennifer reported that she once lived in Parnell, opposite a Link stop. It took her an hour to get to work every morning, so she moved into a central-city apartment.

"The deciding factor for this move was the irregularity of the Link service. I dubbed it the Stink. Every 10 minutes is an absolute myth."

Mark sent a photo he took in March and had saved for just this type of rainy day.

It was of the electronic GPS system showing Link buses were due in 30, 44, and 45 minutes. He posted it on www.flickr.com/photos/wonderferret/107525073/ with the claim: "A Link bus every 10 minutes. Yeah, right."

Nikki's tale was of standing at Auckland University, "waiting for the City Circuit for 30 minutes while it was pouring down with rain and about 30-40 of us had very little shelter ... Later three buses pulled in".

There was rage at the Herald's findings after spending a mid-afternoon hour at the Vulcan Lane bus stop, when the buses ran on time.

Passengers said the fairytale run was caused by the wrong bus stop (just up the road from Britomart, where the run begins), the wrong time (not rush hour) and the wrong weather (not raining).

Christopher - who catches the bus at Three Lamps to go to K Rd - said he was "stunned to say the least" at the Herald's Vulcan Lane findings.

"I had to wait 35 minutes at 7pm last week for a Link bus going to Ponsonby to pick me up from outside the Foodtown on Beach Rd ... Needless to say, the food I needed to refrigerate took a while to get into the fridge."

Tasleem said the service should be improved rather than having electronic signs to warn people when it was delayed.

Nikki agreed - saying the GPS system was "a joke".

"Perhaps someone needs to tell Infratil bus stops aren't airports - not many of us wait around to greet passengers."

Everyone had a theory. Nikki's was that Stagecoach's owner Infratil was Wellington-based.

"This is absurd. Auckland has about three times the population of Wellington and the people at Infratil think they can manage us fine?"

"While sometimes they are good," wrote Fraser, "other times the service seems to depend on the mood of the bus driver and the weather. If it's wet, buses seem to travel in threes."

Peter didn't seem bothered about delays, but was upset Stagecoach had given its complaints rate as 0.00004 per cent, when it was actually 0.004 per cent.

"Stagecoach shouldn't be allowed to get away with using wrong numbers ... I know this is pedantic and that 0.004 per cent is still quite low, but there you go."

Others took umbrage at the low reported complaints rate.

"I'd suggest [the low complaint rate] is more from a lack of any sense that things will change through complaint than any lack of frustration," said Nick. "We pride ourselves on not being a nation of whingers, and pay for it in lack of results."

Leyland spoke of "rude drivers and cockroach-infested buses". He sometimes gave up waiting and walked from work in Parnell to home in Ponsonby.

"Maybe if I and my fellow travellers had been motivated and complained Stagecoach would have been made accountable a lot sooner."

So complain they did.