- By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter
funded by New Zealand on Air
Auckland councillors were given a chance to weigh in on the $1.3 billion Eastern Busway with some expressing concerns for safety and congestion.
At the Auckland Council Transport and Infrastructure Committee on May 18, Auckland Transport’s (AT) integrated networks division group manager for property and planning Jane Small said funding for stages two and three of the Eastern Busway, between Pakūranga and Burswood, had been secured.
AT has not yet made an application for stage four funding from Burswood to Botany.
Cr Ken Turner wanted to know how pedestrians would reach bus stops when they were in between lanes of traffic.
“I see no evidence of underpasses there so that you get your pedestrians out of conflict with the vehicles,” Turner said.
“You know we are affecting the safety – we are also affecting the efficiency of vehicle travel for private vehicles.”
Small responded that raised tables were the recommended safety improvement.
“In terms of the impact on vehicular travel, it is around eight seconds from a raised table,” Small said.
She said the issue with underpasses was that they presented a safety concern.
“Particularly for women and other more vulnerable users … they are not well lit. They can attract undesirable elements that are not very savoury.”
Eastern Busway Alliance design team lead Dean Coutts said another option was using overbridges.
“There are some significant cost implications for that and also has some impact on land adjacent to the corridor and so the solution that we arrived at was raised tables,” Coutts said.
While the Eastern Busway is predicted to alleviate congestion, Cr Maurice Williamson said his commute spoke to the contrary.
“You will see a number of double decker buses, which I photographed and filmed if you would like the evidence… which the bus has only one person and that’s the driver,” Williamson said.
“l would love to see in this presentation some numbers which show the increase in congestion for the motor car because I think it has been horrendous.
“If you are doing benefit-cost ratios, it is not good enough to just go on about the benefits and how good things are without showing what the damage and the detriment that’s been caused.”
Williamson wanted to know what the load factors for buses were.
Small told Williamson that she would need to come back to him with more up-to-date figures but that bus route 70 between Botany and Britomart had been a success.
“Number 70 is one of our most successful routes in terms of passenger uptake [but] that was pre-Covid,” Small said.
Cr Richard Hills wanted to know if bike parking would be available at Eastern Busway stations.
“The Northern Busway, we never had many people cycle to it but that was because we didn’t have cycle infrastructure for parking… now that they have recently put in covered parking, all of it is full, like very full of bikes,” Hill said.
Small confirmed there would be cycle parking at the stations and that it was incorporated into the station design.
