From Sunday 18 October 2015, there will be new bus lanes in the city centre and some bus stops will be relocated to improve public transport in central Auckland.
Auckland Transport (AT) will add more than 1.2km of new 24-hour/seven-day bus lanes to the city centre to minimise effects on bus timetables when construction starts on the City Rail Link (CRL).
In early December 2015, a new stormwater main being tunnelled under the eastern side of Albert Street, between Swanson and Wellesley streets, for the CRL will affect traffic lanes at these and the Victoria Street intersections. Some bus routes and stops will be moved to new locations on Sunday.
The new bus lanes will be on:
- Fanshawe Street between Daldy and Halsey streets
- Halsey Street between Fanshawe Street and Victoria Street West
- Victoria Street West between Graham and Queen streets
- Wellesley Street West between Sale and Queen streets
- Mayoral Drive between Cook and Wellesley streets
- Hobson Street between Wellesley and Victoria streets.
There will also be changes to bus stops in Queen Street, Quay Street, Lower Albert Street, Albert Street, Victoria Street, Mayoral Drive, Vincent Street, Fanshawe Street and Sturdee Street.
General Manager AT Metro Mark Lambert says the bus lanes separate buses from other traffic, enabling them to bypass traffic congestion so they have shorter journey times and can keep to their timetables.
“This encourages more people to use buses, which in turn, means fewer cars on the road.”
The new bus lanes will operate 24 hours a day and motorists who are turning left will only be able to enter a bus lane 50 metres before the intersection.
The InnerLink will no longer travel along Albert Street. It will use Queen Street instead.
AT ambassadors will be out and about in the city to help people. Affected bus stops will have posters with information detailing the changes to that particular stop.
