Commuters travelling from Auckland’s North Shore to the CBD are growing frustrated with overcrowded buses and widespread cancellations.
Multiple people who travel along the city’s Northern Busway have reported seeing up to six buses in a row skip stops as they’re too full.
A large number of services have also been cancelled, leaving commuters stuck until a bus actually arrives.
Sasha Fowler, who lives on the North Shore and commutes to the city, told 1News that every bus that passes his station, Smales Farm, is packed to the brim.
On Monday, he was forced to watch five buses drive past before squeezing into an overcrowded bus to the city. He says it’s been happening for a while.
“Since around mid-February, or when the uni students started going back, the amount of people that need to get to the city from the shore versus the number of buses running in that morning period is just so out of skew.”
“What’s happening is, buses and buses are coming through, and they’re just packed like sardines.”
Fowler said overcrowding and cancellations have been happening for services both to and from the city, in the morning and afternoon.
“Heading home from the city, I get on one of the first stops, so I’m lucky, but when you see people down at Victoria Park, and they’re all lining up, and they can’t even get on the bus that way.”
He said he’s having to wait around 30 minutes just to get on the bus - on a line where buses normally arrive every five minutes.
The delays are now starting to affect his daily routine.
“It just makes you really unmotivated to make the commute to work.
“Like today, I’m working from home because I just can’t be bothered dealing with the commute, which is so inconvenient,” he said.
“Multiple people in my office have complained, too; it's affecting a lot of people.”
He’s not just worried about how full the buses are; he’s also concerned for the safety of other passengers.
“Everyone is standing, all packed together, and all it would take is a small accident to cause injury.”
The gripes for North Shore commuters has been noticed by local politicians, one of them being Auckland councillor Richard Hills.
He took to Twitter, saying Auckland Transport has failed to plan for “March madness”.
“This is why I was grumpy with AT with their lack of creativity and plans for March Madness,” he said on Twitter.
He wants to see better planning and changes to operations.
“Yes, I am aware the driver issue hamstrings them considerably - but… Better comms, pop-up bus lanes to help turnover, off-peak pricing, any ideas?”
As a commuter, Fowler wants to see changes too.
“I think there’s a huge demand in the morning and the evening at peak times, so you just want to see more buses running.
“More buses in the double-decker size coming through, and less cancellations.”
March madness creating 'pressure' - AT
1News contacted AT to understand the situation on the Northern Busway. A spokesperson didn't respond to any specific questions but sent some previous statements around 'March madness'.
Auckland Transport said the reason for overcrowding and cancellations is that school, university and work are back underway after the summer, adding strain to their system.
“The beginning of March is the time of year when we see a very congested road network and busier public transport services,” AT manager of metro optimisation Richard Harrison said.
“The reasons for this include school and university students returning to their normal study routines for the year, as well as workers coming back from summer breaks. All these factors combine to create pressure on Auckland’s transport network.”
“Getting Aucklanders where they need to go is our priority, and we will be redirecting the largest buses to routes with the highest demand – like the Northern Express and route 27 services.”
Harrison said the likely reason behind the lack of services on northern buses is because of driver shortages.
AT is currently at a shortfall of 380 drivers, compared with more than 500 before Christmas.
“We are now seeing around 80% of pre-Covid patronage levels on our buses, and we are currently running around 85% of our bus services, with up to 5% suspended and up to 10% cancelled daily. As more drivers come online, we expect to see these cancellations reduce further.”
They are encouraging commuters to plan ahead and expect delays when using their system.
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