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Unreliable buses
This is inspired by my recent adventures with local bus timetables around Point Wells, Omaha, Matakana and Warkworth. It may resonate with anyone who has ever waited faithfully at a bus stop, confident in printed information.
As a summer visitor to Point Wells, I quickly discovered that cycling between Matakana and Warkworth is a near-death experience, so I turned to the bus, relying on the timetables at the bus stops.
The 997 from Point Wells worked well enough. For the return trip, however, the bus in Warkworth arrived well before the advertised time. When I queried this, the driver shrugged and explained that the timetable was old.
On my next visit to Warkworth, I mentioned this at the Warkworth Information Centre. With a shrug, I was told this was council business and advised to visit the council counter in the library a few doors down. There, the outdated timetable was greeted with visible irritation but not ownership. I was firmly informed that it was not the council’s responsibility, but the transport department’s. My explanation that I was merely a confused visitor trying to help changed nothing, though it did earn me another shrug.
Back on the bus, I raised the matter again with a new driver, who shrugged and assured me it was indeed the council’s responsibility.
The following weekend, trusting a timetable that had previously worked on weekdays, I waited in Point Wells for a bus that never came. If anyone recalls an elderly woman hitchhiking that Saturday, it was probably me. I later learned that the weekend timetables, including Omaha’s, are also incorrect.
I now have a car, so my personal safety has improved considerably. Still, for the sake of future tourists, residents, and pedestrians with thumbs, perhaps the timetables could be brought into the present decade.
Hilary Hamilton, Point Wells visitor
Kindness appreciated
During the recent severe flooding, my husband got stuck in Kaukapakapa with no way to get home to Makarau. I called the hotel in Kaukapakapa (late at night) and they gave him a room to stay in for free.
This went above and beyond what they needed to do.
I just wanted to acknowledge their kindness and generosity.
Jennifer Block, Makarau
