North Shore the final piece of the new bus network

On Sunday the final piece of Auckland's new bus network will be put in place on the North Shore.

The New Network is a simpler bus network with more frequent services.

There are fewer routes, but there are buses coming more often, particularly 7am-7pm, 7 days a week, and services are better connected.

Auckland's population continues to grow, and its transport system needs to grow too. The New Network is making public transport a more attractive option for more people.

Auckland Transport's Group Manager Transport Services Development Colin Homan says, "Auckland’s old bus network was complicated, it was made up of many, often infrequent, services. This New Network has been five years in the making, from the initial planning, consulting the communities, making changes based on feedback to finally putting it in place.

"I'm incredibly proud of what this New Network means for Auckland. It provides many more services that let people go to more places in a much simpler way. By giving Aucklanders a bus network they can rely on that links to trains and ferries, we're giving them options, so they can leave the car at home and still know they can get where they need to go."

Over the past two years new bus networks have been rolled out in Auckland's south, west, east and central suburbs. This has led to significant increases in patronage, for example in west Auckland there was a 10 percent increase in end-to-end journey after the new network launched.

Throughout the North Shore there are currently 78 routes running 2545 trips each weekday. From Sunday there will be 55 routes running 3672 trips each weekday. This is a service increase of more than 44 percent.

On the North Shore, the buses have also been designed to meet with the ferries, for example the 814 service will run between the Devonport ferry and Akoranga Busway Station, meeting every scheduled ferry arriving from Downtown.

Before the New Network 215,500 Aucklanders lived within 500 metres of a frequent or rapid network route stop, from Sunday there will be 527,600 people within 500m of a frequent or rapid stop, a 144% increase.

Before the New Network buses travelled 44.6m km a year on the frequent and rapid network, from Sunday they will cover 59.1m km.

Consultation regarding the North Shore New Network took place in 2015, and 2,279 responses were received.

Based on this feedback, 21 changes were made, including adding two more routes, and changing the frequency or hours of operation of 15 of the proposed routes.

For the first week of the New Network, and possibly longer, AT ambassadors will be at key stops throughout the North Shore and in the city centre, to help customers plan their journeys.

For more information go to: https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/new-public-transport-network/

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