AT the transport committee tomorrow there is a further update on work to get a North Western Busway built, something long championed by this site. The report recommends that a staged approach be taken to the development of a busway rather than to build it all at once with the first stages being to get some decent bus lanes along key routes along with some proper interchange facilities. Over time as the population and number of buses increase there will be more justification for a dedicated busway on some parts of the route. Here is the executive summary:
- The Auckland Plan provides for significant growth in the number of people and jobs within the northwest part of the Auckland metropolitan area over the next 30 years. Although there will be an increase in local employment opportunities, the growth in both population and employment in this part of Auckland over the next three decades will required additional public transport infrastructure along State Highways 16 and 18.
- The Auckland Plan’s transport chapter included the provision of a busway along State Highway 16 between Westgate and Waterview as a second and third decade project. However, there will be significant upgrades to bus services, the construction of bus interchanges and the provision of improved bus shoulder lanes along this corridor in the shorter term.
- It is considered that the most cost-effective way of implementing a busway along State Highway 16 is through a staged approach, which provides infrastructure upgrades when justified by demand or in response to land use change. This approach enables best value to be extracted from already committed public transport upgrades along the corridor, while also building demand over time to help justify larger scale expenditure.
- Full implementation of a busway will require analysis and an evidence base to justify route protection and construction. At this stage analysis has been undertaken to establish the need for a busway at a strategic level only.
- The report asks the Committee to support a staged approach culminating in the implementation of a busway along State Highway 16 between Westgate and Waterview, with infrastructure being progressively upgraded in a cost-effective manner to enable a high-speed, high-capacity and very attractive public transport option for people living and working in the northwest part of Auckland.
One of the key needs for improvement in the North West is simply the amount of growth expected there in coming years. The number of dwellings in the corridor between Te Atatu and Kumeu is eventually expected triple over the next 30 years and there will be more people living in this area than do on the North Shore today. While there will also be a lot of additional jobs in the area, it won’t be enough for everyone so there will still be a lot of demand for trips to other parts of the region. Here are the figures from the councils development strategy:
At the current Auckland average of 3 people per household that equates to around 370,000 people living in the North West so there will be a huge number of people that need to get around. The new bus network will help with this by providing a high frequency route along much of the motorway which along with more traffic lanes, is getting better bus lanes as well. The report also makes mention of a couple of bus interchange facilities that are gong to be built, one at the Lincoln Rd interchange and one at the Te Atatu Rd interchange and some of the local bus routes will also feed into these interchanges.
Sadly while it should be possible to get a busway from Westgate to Te Atatu, it seems like it is now too late to get one from Te Atatu to Waterview due to the environmental impact if the causeway was to be widened further. The other alternative is to reclaim some car lanes but I imagine that will be quite a protracted battle. Early modelling that is being undertaken for the City Centre Future Access Study, a study that will be key for the CRL, suggests that at the busiest section there will be around 4600 passengers heading towards the city.
It is good that the council and others are starting to recognise the importance of this project, especially with the growth projections for the future and I think that the staged approach is the most sensible way forward. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the plans for the interchanges and the new bus network will really help in showing the need for further improvements.
The ‘upgrade’ of the causeway is another example of silo planning in Auckland, over 800 million is being spent and all non-car based transport modes will get are a few bus shoulder lanes. Spending this sort of money and not making damm sure it supports more than one mode is extremely short sighted and wasteful.
This situation has come about because the previous councils, and current until now, have believed everyone would simply bus to Henderson and catch a train. The former and current long term plans show this. The situation is not of NZTA’s making. They are building what was planned by them based on what council wanted.
Why not reclaim a lane from general traffic as an HOV/toll lane on the inner section of this motorway ? In Los Angeles they’re building new lanes for this, because State laws forbid declaring existing lanes for this purpose. However in NZ it could be more politically acceptable, and certainly more acceptable than declaring a full-time bus lane. The HOV/toll lanes allow high-occupancy vehicles, and anyone prepared to pay a toll (eg company cars, trucks, people hurrying between 2 jobs). Los Angeles has several bus routes that use the HOV/toll lanes.
@ Malcolm M – and how do you think we poor peasants will react to you swishing by in your toll lane that our taxes helped pay for? (because the lane has already been built – the tolls don’t pay for it!)
Sorry for the thread jack, but did anyone else notice this stark contrast? While Kiwirail announce the closure of the Napier-Gisbore rail line today,
http://www.kiwirail.co.nz/news/184/78/KiwiRail-to-mothball-Napier-Gisborne-line.html
NZTA quietly announce they have another $4m to throw at upgrading SH2 between… you guessed it – Napier and Gisborne! To keep SH2 in good nick for freight. While claiming they expect no impact from the rail line closure. Said with a straight face.
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/about/media/releases/2214/news.html
Chuck in the $9-10m they already have tagged for that Napier-Gisborne section of SH2, and that is 1/3 of what is needed to reopen the rail line. Add in the $24m they just spent upgrading the Matahorua Gorge section that was causing ‘problems for the trucks’, and they could have paid for the entire rail line reopening right there. Sigh. Priorities of this government on display I guess.
If you look closely at those new maps for the route network, none actually include the Northwestern Motorway, rather, the route is via the almost parallel Triangle Road. Which suggests there’s a long way to go yet.
The new network was simply a reorganisation of existing resources, it was designed according to the status quo opportunities and made no assumptions about new or future infrastructure. It doesn’t, for example, account for the AMETI busway which is already funded and under construction.
Indeed, if I were designing the route using the existing opportunities I would put it on Triangle Rd too, simply because you can’t stop to pick people up on the motorway.
The yellow line is alongside the motorway from Lincoln to Waterview
I think the yellow line is ON the motorway for those sections. Which is probably what you mean.
Eeep! Sorry – I overstated the cost of reopening the Napier-Gisborne rail line as $40m when it is just $4m, making the NZTA boost to SH2 funding even more appalling! Sure, Kiwirail ceo Jim Quinn then suggests an opex deficit of $5-8m pa for running Napier-Gisborne rail, but Quinn never misses a chance to run down the SOE he runs, it seems.
It really is appalling that $4 million cannot be found.
Oh it’s been found, and handed to the killer truck lobby
Agreed. I worked with the man for two years. What he’s been doing doesn’t surprise me.
Do the planned bus shoulder lanes include across the bridges, for example as you approach Te Atatu heading west, or will they be the extreme stop-start variety?
Are we getting any closer to extending the NBW over the harbour bridge and through Fanshawe/Customs yet?
Surely, wuth the numbers travelling by bus at peak (I’ve heard its 80% on Franshawe) the busway should extend right through. The NWB (note the difference) would join up with it.
That’s an excellent question KLK. We should follow up on that issue in a post.
The “fifth lane” across the Harbour Bridge during peak times should be made bus only.
It is already marked as buses and cars exiting on Shelly Beach Road only. However, as it is difficult to enforce, the ‘bus lane’ is uneffective.
Lane 1 over the bridge is for ALL vehicles, not just Shelley exit and bus anyway. Given the motorway is free flow after the fantastic city centre motorway upgrade what would be the point to make one of the lanes bus only anyway?
Because we all know that free-flow will only last a couple more years before it gets clogged up again. And we should take the opportunity now to lock in one of those lanes for buses so that when the motorway inevitably clogs up again the buses get and advantage.
The bigger issue is for northbound traffic in the PM peak where the motorway is definitely NOT free flow. A northbound bus lane through St Mary’s Bay and over the habour bridge would provide massive benefits for PT users.
Its ridiculous that this “rapid transit” corridor is separated in most parts where the route is least congested, but has to share the road where congestion usually arises the most (on the bridge and the city-side).
Rapid transit as organised by Kafka’s officials…. or a catch 22 situation from Vonnegut; buses can have their own ROW unless it’s necessary, in which case they can’t.
The Northwest Busway is close to my heart, and will make a big difference to the communities I represent in West Auckland. I have written to Mike Lee as Chairman of the Transport Committee saying how much I appreciate the progress made in prioritising the project in a short period, but also pointing out that there needs to be a lot more urgency and ambition in regards to the timeframe. NZTA are dragging the chain. It is not good enough that they are rejecting the need for route protection, and refusing to look at future proofing the causeway work:
“Since I appeared before the committee last year to advocate for the Northwest Busway, I have been heartened by the positive way the proposal has been taken up by you and the Committee, by the Mayor, Deputy-Mayor and councillors, as well as by the west’s Local Boards. Thank you for showing leadership on this issue. I believe the Northwest Busway will be a critical addition to Auckland’s public transport network. As well as delivering a modern mass transit service to the people of Te Atatu and Massey, it will be a prerequisite to the major development anticipated in the Auckland Plan for the North West.
The Update cited above usefully proposes a step-by-step approach which would see the Busway built incrementally with each new piece of infrastructure stimulating growing demand and justification for the next investment. Council staff deserve credit for developing the proposal in this constructive way.
As I have said publicly, the combination of planned new bus-bus interchanges at the Te Atatu and Lincoln Rd motorway interchanges, the new upgraded shoulder lanes being built as part of the SH16 widening, and the new high frequency bus services will deliver a great leap forward in public transport service for people in the part of West Auckland I represent.
While the rapid increase in political support for the Busway and its inclusion in the Auckland Plan are encouraging, I believe there needs to be more ambition and urgency in considering the next steps:
1. The Update advises that the reconstruction and widening of the causeway as part of the Waterview project cannot be future-proofed for the Busway. In an ideal world the Busway future-proofing should have been incorporated into the causeway work from the beginning. I accept that the project is now quite advanced, but I urge you to ask Auckland Transport and NZTA to urgently review the extent to which the project can be future-proofed even at this stage. If it is at all possible to avoid having to re-do any widening in years to come this would clearly be of great benefit. We should not allow a repeat the classic Harbour Bridge syndrome of failing to future proof, only to need a clip-on solution down the track.
2. The Update also says route protection is premature. This is short termism. The Busway needs to happen, and the sooner route protection can be undertaken the better.
3. In the current plan, the Busway from Westgate to Lincoln would happen in the second decade; Lincoln to Waterview in the third decade. This timeframe is inadequate given current peak hour congestion, and the increased flows that will be generated by Waterview and the planned development in the North West. I urge you to bring the timeframe forward.”
It’s hard not to notice just how much support you’ve been giving it!
Really appreciated Phil, hope you’re in a position to make it happen sooner rather than later (and even if you’re not, that those in the way step aside and let it happen).
What if the busway was build on one pylon for the causeway section, couldn’t we put those pylons where the bus lane is now?
No, it just requires one fewer general traffic lane each way after the new ones are added. Sorted. We know form the Northern Busway that with priority these lane will quickly move many more people per lane than the genera; lanes so are therefore way more efficient. We can have most of this busway very soon with the political will.
As Enrique Peñalosa said: “Transport is a political not a technical issue.”
There is one burning issue amongst busdrivers still on our minds:
Hobson-street is a “mayor” feeder for both Western and Southern Motorway and very busy therefore but almost “all” Western buses have to go through it from Victoria street to the end at Pitt street then onto Great North.. This means about a bus every 3 minutes going through an already congested area.
The amount of people we pick-up from Hobson-street is absolutely minimal and neglect-able and has been for years.
Although Sky tower on Victoria-street is a busy pick-up point for Go West, these people could easily walk to Albertstreet or Mayoral Drive to avoid our buses a 20 min roundabout trip over a 1 km distance.
Suggestion to the council: Take Western buses straight through Albert-street to the massive Mayoral pickup and then straight over Vincent to Pitt street except for the Western Flyers…. who can still go over Sky City….and then straight onto the Motorway…
This would save dozens of buses a 20 min delay daily to wiggle their way around Hobson-street and would free space up for the motorway approach for peak-hour traffic.
We bus-drivers have been suggesting this for years on end but there seems to be a Skycity/Counsil political game hampering progress into a better traffic management….???
Please get us out of Hobson to stop losing customers to delays caused by clear mismanagement.
Quite a lot of buses have been switched to go that way. Good question why all west Auckland buses don’t go up Vincent Street – seems a no-brainer as you say.
Ahh…bus drivers. On Thursday night the Te Atatu Peninsula services stopped running from town. My brother and other users sat in town waiting for their bus even while New Lynn and Henderson services were still running thus ruling out not being able to run due to the accident on the Southern.. There were numerous Go West buses sitting at the stop with Out of service signs up. When users approached the bus doors to try and find out what was happening not a single driver would open a door and chat to them. Not one out of 10 or so. Even worse was the MAXX help service whose best response was we can take a complaint and get back to you in 10 days. Not helpful when you are sitting in town. Eventually, 2 hours later the group caught a Henderson bus, got dropped off on Te Atatu Road (South) and made the trek to the peninsula on foot. Ahh, what world class PT we have.