Auckland Transport (AT) is making some changes to North Shore bus operations to help free up bus capacity at Constellation Station.
Yesterday during the afternoon peak there were capacity issues at Constellation with three buses arriving every minute with the introduction of the new bus network for the shore.
AT's Group Manager Metro Service Delivery, Stacey Van Der Putten says the station couldn't cope with those numbers. "We have a plan to manage the number of buses and improve efficiency for our customers.
"There are now two Northern Express routes so we are suspending some NX1 services because of surplus capacity but those buses will be available for back-up if needed."
She says AT also plans to re-organise buses in the layover area at Constellation to free up space. It will also put-in temporary traffic management at the station to direct bus drivers to the right stop.
"I'm confident we can keep buses moving and we can avoid having a large number of buses backed-up. We are committed to making this work and we apologise to our customers for any disruption during this major change. Please be patient."
Over the next few years, as part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project, a new northbound platform will be constructed on the other side of the busway at Constellation to improve capacity.
The New Network
The New Network is a simpler bus network with more frequent services.
There are fewer routes, but there are buses coming more often, particularly 7am-7pm, 7 days a week, and services are better connected.
Throughout the North Shore there were 78 routes running 2545 trips each weekday, now there are 55 routes running 3672 trips each weekday. This is a service increase of more than 44 per cent.
AT ambassadors are at key stops throughout the North Shore and in the city centre, to help customers plan their journeys.
Each weekday Auckland Transport carries 185,000 passengers on 11,000 bus services.
For more information go to at.govt.nz.
