Changes to Auckland's Outerlink bus system are planned to drop some stops and add others. Photo: 123RF
Residents of the Mount Eden suburb have been left in the dark about changes to drop their stop from a central Auckland bus route, two groups have told Auckland Council on Thursday.
The bright orange of the Outerlink bus service circles the suburbs surrounding the central city - and from November, Auckland Transport (AT) plans to drop stops to St Lukes and Mount Eden on the route to improve its reliability.
It will fill the gap through Mount Eden with two new bus routes, interchanges, and a dedicated school bus down Manukau Road.
Frances Loo from the Mount Eden Village Business Association told the Transport and Infrastructure Committee that half of her staff take the Outerlink to access work, and thousands of users would be affected.
"The Outerlink, as you know, is Auckland's fourth most popular bus route, but in central Auckland, it is the most popular bus route."
There had been inadequate consultation on the changes, with just the local board consulted, Loo said.
"The users of the Outerlink - many of them are schoolchildren, tertiary students, elderly, and migrants - they are not aware of the proposed changes, nor were they aware of the regional public transport plan."
She said the proposal was fundamentally flawed and would not improve the service, while causing headaches for Mount Eden bus users.
Albert-Eden local board chairperson Kendyl Smith told the committee there was overwhelmingly negative responses to previous changes to the service in 2016 and 2019.
The latest changes were introduced in the Regional Public Transport Plan released earlier this year, which opened all of Auckland's bus routes up for consultation, Smith said.
"Cynics might think it was being buried in a large document to avoid further scrutiny and backlash."
The Outerlink service warranted its own consultation, and the community was upset they were not given the opportunity, Smith said.
"My key concerns is the lack of transparency. Significant changes to a bus route were included in a large document without clear standalone consultation. This has led the public perception of inadequate transparency and true consultation."
Improving a 'rather rubbish' service - Auckland Transport
AT public transport and active modes director Stacey van der Putten admitted the agency did not do a good job of communicating the changes, but said they were for the better.
"It is an improved service, overall. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the Outerlink, not everybody understands that for some customers it's actually rather rubbish," van der Putten said.
"And we need to fix that, we're committed to fixing that, but we're also committed to getting out there and making sure people know what their options are."
The changes to the Outerlink improved an overall unreliable service, with "bunching" of buses at key crunch points, like in Newmarket, common, van der Putten said.
"Anybody that's taken the Outerlink and been stopped at Victoria Park ... knows that's a really bad experience for people. We can't let that continue."
That meant some people would have to get used to taking new routes to get from A to B, she said.
"What you can see is an actually better level of service. What it does introduce, is for some customers, is they're going to have to change services. There is neighbourhood interchanges going into those key places in order to enable that to go smoothly.
"We need to do better in terms of getting out there over the next three months before those changes and take customers on the journey with us."
Mayor Wayne Brown was a fan of AT's changes to the route, and he said most complaints were from people stuck on the bus at Victoria Park.
"As a person who catches the Outerlink, I think what you're doing is very good.
"Whilst they had a list of complaints, most of the complaints are from what goes on at Victoria Park, because they're full in the morning, and it enrages people to be held off when they're just short of where they're going to."
