Ahead of the Auckland City Rail Link's official opening next month, a series of new bus and transit lanes are being proposed for some of the city's busiest roads.
In a statement this morning, Auckland Transport said the changes would be made on Remuera, Mount Eden, and Sandringham roads – all of which lead directly to CRL stations.
It said the goal was to reduce congestion and make it easier for people to use public transport.
For Remuera Road, five new T3 lane sections were proposed in both directions. The changes would link up all sections of the busy arterial which currently don't have T3 lanes.
The road leads directly to Newmarket station and, according to AT, sees 26,000 people travel along it every day – including up to 2400 commuters and 40 buses during peak hours.
AT plans to install two new bus lanes on Mount Eden Road, which heads directly towards the new Maungawhau CRL station in Eden Terrace. According to AT, the road supports nearly 30,000 daily journeys.
The agency also wanted to extend the bus lane hours by an hour earlier, from 3pm to 7pm, to better align with the afternoon rush and school pickup.
Sandringham Road would get two new bus lane sections to speed up travel to Kingsland Station and onto the Maungawhau and Te Waihorotiu CRL stations.
Aucklanders can provide feedback on the proposal via AT's website, with submissions closing on August 23.
AT road network optimisation manager Chris Martin said the proposed new lanes were intended to improve how Aucklanders reached the new stations.
"That’s by joining up our existing transit and bus lanes for continuous travel and better traffic flow at busy times," he said.
“To speed up commuting in Auckland we need to get more people out of their cars and onto buses and trains, it really is that simple.
“Installing continuous bus and transit lanes that are only used in peak hour traffic is a cheap and commonsense approach we should be making.”
He said it was also a "cheap and quick" solution for removing already-existing broken yellow lines.
“Linking up the existing transit lanes creates a more seamless route and travel experience for commuters. There would certainly be less time stuck in traffic during peak-hour travel.”
The City Rail Link will officially open on Sunday, September 13.
Feedback was open until August 23
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