Aucklanders fed up with cancelled and suspended bus services should expect to feel relief in six months' time, the city's transport agency says.
Bus operators have been struggling with an acute driver shortage in the past year, with Auckland Transport (AT) seeing up to 2000 trips cancelled a day at the peak of suspensions.
Outgoing interim chief executive Mark Lambert said today the organisation expected bus companies to be able to deliver full timetables by late September.
"We're about 16% short on the industry requirement, but we are expecting to see quite a big improvement over the next month or two."
He said Auckland's public transport system continued to be around 350 drivers short, with recruitment now mainly happening overseas. Mayor Wayne Brown has previously said his city is facing a "public transport crisis" as a result of nationwide labour shortages.
AA's Martin Glynn says the roads are busier this month than they were in March 2019. (Source: Breakfast)
"All of our operators are expecting by September, at the latest, to be at full complement or the ability to operate the full timetables," he said.
The agency's ability to fully restore its timetables is dependent on Auckland Council's final decision over AT's budget for the next financial year, Lambert said.
"If we have the full funding, we should have the drivers able to deliver the full schedule prior to the suspensions."
Under the council's budget proposal, around 588 bus trips a week will be permanently removed from timetables.
Lambert also said there was a focus on making buses more reliable on the North Shore. Last month, 1News reported on frustration from commuters in the north dealing with cancelled services and overcrowded buses.
New Zealand lacks 800 drivers needed nationwide. (Source: 1News)
"North Shore has struggled a little bit with the Ritchies depot, and that will be a focus with those new drivers over the next few weeks and months," he said.
It comes as AT's new chief executive has set the agency a target to restore yearly ridership to pre-pandemic levels of 100 million trips.
On Tuesday, Dean Kimpton said there would be a ramp-up in the restoration of services over the next six months but that it wouldn't happen overnight.
"Within three months, we’re backing ourselves to have the full contingent, but the catch is this: three months after that is when we’ll have them all trained," he told BusinessDesk.
It comes as an increasing number of services across the country are cancelled. (Source: 1News)
Cancellations have also plagued other bus systems around the country, with service suspensions stretching from Whangārei to Queenstown.
The Government has provided several wage boosts to bring in additional bus drivers, with immigration settings loosened at the pleading of the transport industry.
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