Get your feedback in

 

Today is the last day to get your feedback in for the new West Auckland Bus Network which will then go live at the end of 2015.

For more on the West Auckland Bus Network please go here:

New Network for West Auckland

 

……..

Source and full-page: https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/new-public-transport-network/new-network-for-west-auckland/

 

Here is that video

 

Comments

The new network for West Auckland has prompted some rather stiff criticism as noted here http://transportblog.co.nz/2014/10/31/west-auckland-network-with-new-interchanges/ as well as feedback I got through various social media channels. The criticism falls into three categories:

1. Lack of feeder buses especially from outlying areas
2. Lack of heavy interchanges as the picture below will note
3. Lack of park and rides at the outer stations

 

West Auckland’s new bus network looks like a total donkey compared to what South Auckland was given for hers. We in the South got both our frequent buses that would trundle down routes like the Great South Road and Te Irirangi Drive. But we also got some decent starter feeder buses feeding into either rail stations or multi-modal interchanges like Papakura and what should have been Otahuhu and Manukau (the funding debate that has been debated here before). West Auckland by the looks of it gets very little feeders in comparison to the South which means people out West are going to be driving to the western interchanges but….

 

There are no true interchanges for the West apart from New Lynn. And even then there is no park and ride really available either to allow people to come from the outlying suburbs by car to a station/interchange then use a bus or train to complete the journey. Now granted our two in the South (Manukau and Otahuhu) are facing a shunt owing to someone in Council not being able to put a budget together. However, on the original timeline (that can be very easily restored) that would have both the Southern interchanges ready by 2016 the South’s public transport network is bolstered to allow interchanging between feeders and through services. Backed up with some decent park and rides and the South Auckland Public Transport Network will be quite robust and efficient. The West does not have that luxury as the picture below shows:

 

This leads to the final situation of a lack of park and rides out West. Park and rides for Auckland work most effectively for any station or interchange south of Otahuhu or west of New Lynn. This is especially if the park and ride is situated on a station or interchange that has a rural catchment like Papakura, Henderson (that has no Park and Ride) and Swanson. Park and rides at the outer stations allow rural commuters who couldn’t otherwise get a feeder bus owing to viability to drive to that P&R and then use public transport to somewhere else in urban Auckland. Thus not clogging the motorway. West Auckland has some decent rural catchments on its outer public transport networks but very little park and rides compared again to its Southern cousin. Result? North Western Motorway situation of it being  parking lot owing to lack of true options for West Aucklanders who might have wanted to use public transport bus can’t due to both an inefficient network and lack of feeder facilities whether it be shuttle buses or park and rides.

 

So in conclusion and compared to the South, West Auckland gets shafted pretty much yet again owing to a lack of:

1. Feeder buses feeding into major interchanges
2. Those major interchanges themselves
3. Park and Rides for stations west of New Lynn

 

Therefore get your submissions in people by the end of today if you want a truly effective and efficient West Auckland bus network