More than $20,000 in fines has been issued to motorists unlawfully using a transit lane on a busy east Auckland road.
That’s among the information Auckland Transport (AT) released to Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown about enforcement of the controversial T2 lane on Pakuranga Road.
The lane extends from Dunrobin Place at the Highland Park Shopping Centre to Gossamer Drive and requires vehicles using the inside westbound lane to be occupied by at least two people between 6am-10am Monday to Friday.
Brown opposed the lane being established back in 2019 and started a petition that was signed by more than 1500 people calling for it to be removed.
He previously said he’d had “hundreds” of local residents approach him with concerns about the lane.
Much of the worry was around the section between Cascades Road and Gossamer Drive and the 50 metre distance provided for traffic turning left out of Cascades Road and traffic turning left into Gossamer Drive.
Motorists with no passengers risk being fined should they enter the lane outside of the 50 metre zone depending on what time of day they do so.
An AT spokesperson said in May 2019 the T2 lane was a “temporary measure”.
Brown recently asked the agency for information about the lane’s enforcement, including when infringement officers monitored it over the past 12 months.
He also asked how much money had been received in fines for people illegally using it since it was established.
AT replied infringements were issued on several days during the months of July, August, October, November and December last year, as well as in February and May this year.
For the period from July 1 last year to June 30 this year, $22,950 in revenue was generated through enforcement, it said.
Brown told the Times: “This is a significant amount of money AT has taken from motorists using Pakuranga Road, many of whom will have been caught short trying to get into a driveway of turning off Pakuranga Road into Cascades Road or Gossamer Drive.
“AT said this T2 lane would only be temporary while they were undertaking construction on the Eastern Busway between Pakuranga and Panmure, but have kept it in place despite construction on this project finishing 12 months ago.
“AT should keep to their word, remove this T2 lane, and allow Pakuranga Road to go back to how it used to operate.”
An AT spokesperson says there’s about 48,000 vehicle movements in the area per day, “so we have a very strong rate of compliance”.
“Based on the data we only issued one of these infringements every couple of days.
“We consider this fantastic compliance and thank these Aucklanders for doing the right thing to help us keep the city moving.”
According to AT, T2 lanes are reserved for the use of private vehicles carrying two or more occupants, passenger service vehicles such as taxis, and bicycles, motorbikes and mopeds.
The penalty for using one unlawfully is a $150 fine.
