My Account
For many the changes were welcome, with comments ranging from “the evening buses mean I can come home earlier”, to a more succinct “about bloody time”.
Others were concerned about the route from Hibiscus Coast Village to Orewa and Whangaparaoa, congestion at the park and ride and the amount of Northern Express buses.
The Coast was the starting point for Auckland Transport’s (AT) rollout of its New Network, which aims to make the bus network more efficient, increasing the frequency of services and improving connections with the Northern Express service to the city. The changes will be implemented in October.
AT consulted on the changes a year ago and in the intervening months has been finalising routes and negotiating with Ritchies and NZ Bus.
Although a majority of the 874 submissions received (71 percent) supported the proposed route changes, residents voiced opposition to some proposals including the suggested reduction in the off-peak service to and from Albany and the city along Dairy Flat Highway. Routing buses through the park and ride (even those travelling from Whangaparaoa north) was also a cause of consternation. As a result of feedback, changes were made to 10 of the 11 proposed routes. This included retaining a service to run “throughout the day” along Dairy Flat Highway, Monday to Friday. The plan to use the park and ride as a hub remains. Feeder services into the station have been ‘streamlined’, with the aim of providing more efficient connections to the Northern Express. The changes will bring more buses into the park and ride, which only recently obtained resource consent and confirmed funding for the final stage of its construction – the station itself and expansion of car parks from 100 to 484. That work is not expected to begin until October 2016 – a year after the New Network comes into force – a situation that AT describes as “unfortunate”. It is likely that this will increase the number of disgruntled users of the park and ride in the short term. A report presented to the local board last November by AT anticipated this, saying “because the full park and ride facility will not be built by the time the Northern Express is extended to Hibiscus Coast Station, there is likely to be dissatisfaction with the amount of car parking, although this will maximise the potential market for the feeder bus services”.
In the meantime, measures to mitigate the problem have been instigated including new shelters. AT is also investigating installing toilets and expansion of the parking area prior to the Stage 2 works.
Details of the bus services and route maps are linked here: New Network Consultation Summary and Decisions Report June 2015 [2.5MB PDF], New Network Frequencies and Hours of Service [98kb PDF], New Network Implementation Consultation Map June 2015 [877kb PDF]
Network highlights
- Northern Express bus services are to be extended to Silverdale and will operate between the park and ride and the city at least every 30 minutes, seven days a week, and every 15 minutes at peak times. AT anticipates that this will make travelling into the city from the Hibiscus Coast 30 minutes quicker during off peak hours than it does currently. During peak times there will be 10 more trips between the Hibiscus Coast and the city through the park and ride.
- More double decker buses will be on the Northern Express from January, increasing capacity by approximately 25 percent between Albany and Britomart.
- There will be more services on the local network, particularly in weekends, a bus every half hour between Orewa and Manly, a link for Millwater, a trial loop service from Arkles Bay to The Plaza (Monday to Friday) and a trial bus connection between Gulf Harbour ferry and The Plaza, via Shakespear Regional Park.
