A trip up to town earlier this week led to the discovery of the resealing of a road near our city pad. We were diverted accordingly which had me thinking that the detour of the bus would have made it miss a sizeable chunk of its normal route. Intrigued as to how they would have overcome the problem, I sought the relevant information from the Auckland Transport website. Nothing. According to them, the bus was still on its normal run.
While on the website what was even more interesting was to discover how much of Auckland’s public transport is, for various reasons, not operating at full speed. I found that, despite everyone being back at work, buses were still operating on a reduced timetable. The excuse was that they were working off the previous year’s passenger numbers. This had led to numerous complaints from the public of overcrowded buses leaving them behind and consequently making them late for work. According to the AT website buses will resume a normal timetable on Tuesday 1 February.
I then found out that the ferries can’t operate a normal service until sometime in March due to staffing problems. Presumably some will have replacement buses if they have the drivers. It would appear this is also a problem when it comes to reinstating the usual bus services. I would imagine this is all about a reduction in numbers due to some staff choosing not to be vaccinated. On top of this, track maintenance is continuing this week, meaning many train services are terminating at Newmarket where you transfer to a bus. I have seen these buses and very few are using them. Trains, the AT website tells me, will resume a normal timetable on Sunday 6 February.
I don’t know of anywhere in the world where a city the size of Auckland would run such a Mickey Mouse transport system. From Phil Goff down we are incessantly lectured about using public transport. Apart from the impracticalities of the hectoring message, the whole nonsense is futile if the means to fulfil the ideal is not being provided. The start of the working year is the very time to attract people onto public transport with an efficient, reliable service. The start of this year has been anything but.
The idea of having to change from boat to bus or a train to a bus is not acceptable in a so-called first-world city. This is third world stuff. People won’t put up with this type of shenanigans for even a week. They’ll be lured straight back into their car. It is an indisputable fact that the holiday period is the time to run reduced services and do maintenance work but the holiday period doesn’t last the whole of January. Perhaps it does at Auckland Transport. I suggest this needs a rethink. The entire transport network needs to be up and running by the time the working year begins.
A postscript on the Te Huia debacle restarting on Monday. There is big news here. Rather than stopping at Papakura as formerly, it will labour (very appropriate given its sponsor using our money) its way into the Strand Station at the bottom end of Parnell. When you visit the Te Huia website there is a picture of the Te Huia train appearing to be travelling at the speed of a cheetah rather than the snail pace we know it to be. The picture is the cheater.
I was told there was a new and improved timetable. How many extra trips, I mused. None is the answer. Instead of two early morning trips each way there is one plus an afternoon trip. Whether this is more to the commuters’ liking, time will tell.
The website also gave me the travel times. Frankton to the Strand is 2 hrs 25 mins (98 mins to Papakura). Rotokauri to the Strand: 2 hrs 17 mins (90 mins to Papakura). The next piece of information got me really excited. RAAHUI POOKEKA? / Huntly to the Strand 1 hr 55 mins (68 mins to Papakura). I was then advised the total travel time from Rotokauri to Britomart was 2 hrs 35 mins (subject to the transfer time at Papakura). By the way, is there no Maori name for Frankton?
The one good add-on that this apology for an express commuter train is doing is stopping, supposedly, at Puhinui where you can transfer to an airport bus. I say supposedly because there is no mention of a transfer time so I am visualising travellers with luggage leaping off a moving train, flying through the air before getting a similar but less dangerous experience on a plane. Mind you, that might not be too difficult at the speed this ancient piece of machinery travels at. I don’t think the timetable changes will make that much of a difference. When it was stopped due to lockdown this expensive experiment was costing taxpayers $24,000 a day.
Te Huia is named after the bird sacred to Maori. It is believed to be extinct, the last sighting being in 1907. The last sighting of the train should have been when it was terminated last year. People are not going to spend five hours a day on a regular commute. It is unrealistic. At least the bird could fly. Unfortunately the same can’t be said of the train.
