Auckland Transport (AT) says bus service trips that are being regularly cancelled due to a driver shortage will be temporarily suspended from timetables from November 6 .
The move is intended to “improve service reliability and customer confidence,” AT says.
Darek Koper, the agency’s group manager of metro services, says the ongoing bus driver shortfall means AT hasn’t been able to deliver the full scheduled service for some time.
“We’re not taking anything away that’s currently running.
“We are just temporarily removing them in the timetable, so they won’t show up and then appear as cancelled.
“We will still be running around 12,000 bus trips a day and will be adding services back to our timetables as soon as bus operators are able to recruit more drivers.”
Koper says AT has struggled to operate its full bus
timetable this year because of the effects of the national driver shortage, which has led to far more cancellations across the network than it would usually see.
“By making these changes customers will have more confidence and certainty, significantly reducing the level of cancellations after customers have already planned their trips.”
While the changes are intended to make it easier for customers to plan their journeys, there will still be some cancellations to services due to operational issues or late staff unavailability, Koper says.
“We’ll continue to work with the Government to help address the driver shortage and we will promptly restore full timetables as more drivers come onboard.
“There have been some positive movements around bus driving as a vocation, benefiting both existing drivers and supporting recruitment drives.
“With funding support from Auckland Council and Waka Kotahi, there have been two recent increases in base remuneration for drivers with a further increase through Government funding announced on October 30.
“However, in the short term we still need an additional 500 drivers.”
Koper says in east Auckland, where more drivers have been recruited by Go Bus, the service recently returned to its full timetable, restoring 5000 trips per month which were removed in May.
“We’re thankful to our customers for their continued patience through this driver shortage crisis and their ongoing support for public transport in Auckland.”
