| Transport - Busway | |
The Busway is the focus of North Shore City’s upgrade of public transport to provide better bus services, give people more travel options, and reduce car numbers and road congestion. Most residents now have convenient access to a nearby bus service that will allow them to leave their car at home and conduct their whole journey by public transport, if they wish to do so. The Busway was opened in February 2008 and is already proving a success. The Northern Express, the bus service which operates up and down the Busway exclusively, had 55% more passengers in March 2008 than in the same month a year earlier. That’s around 115,000 passengers for the month. In addition, other bus services also use the Busway as part of their daily citywide operations and they carried over 100,000 passengers over the month.
The numbers of cars on the city’s roads has been rising for some years but that is unsustainable long-term because the roading system cannot cope. Residents’ surveys show a clear preference for more public transport options, instead of building more roads. Currently, 70% of workers who live in North Shore also work in the city, so there is great potential to provide convenient public transport which people will use. Over the long term the Busway is expected to have a big impact on peak commuter times by reducing the numbers of cars on roads. The dedicated bus lane sits alongside state highway one in a broad north-south line between Albany and the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It is seven kilometres long. The stations act as hubs with all cross-city bus services now going through these central points, allowing different bus services to connect up regularly and conveniently. Previously it was difficult for passengers to get across the city if they had to change buses. There are also now more buses more often, making it easier to pick up a neighbourhood bus from close to home, to reach the nearest Busway station.There are five stations on the route – Akoranga, Westlake, Sunneynook, and two park’n’ride stations at Constellation Drive and Albany. The park’n’rides have large facilities for vehicle parking and the stations have contemporary urban design features including high security, extensive landscaping, electronic signage and cafes. Another improvement to the transport network has been the introduction of transferable bus tickets, allowing passengers to change buses using just one ticket – even between different bus operators. The stations were funded and built by North Shore City Council, and the Busway itself was funded by the region’s public transport funder, Land Transport New Zealand. The region’s daily bus services are run by MAXX, which also provides timetable information. To find out more about the Northern Busway go to www.maxx.co.nz.
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It is a high speed route that makes it easier for people to get to, from and around the North Shore as well as travel into neighbouring Auckland City or further around the region.
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