Transport Musts For March’s Busy Commute

We’re now entering the busiest period of the year on Auckland’s roads and public transport. Offices, construction sites, schools and universities are back in full swing.

That means hundreds of thousands of workers and students are needing to use their private vehicles and rapidly filling up Auckland’s buses, trains and ferries each weekday morning and afternoon.

Plan ahead for your journey, the roads will be busy

If you’re travelling to work or university by car, there are a few tips that can help get you there as soon as possible.

Simon Buxton, AT’s Director of Customer and Network Performance, says to plan your journey and allow some extra time.

“You will be sharing the road with hundreds of thousands of cars, trucks, buses, and vans. Please drive safely and patiently, we want to make sure everyone gets to where they are going without incident.

“Check travel times and congestion levels online before you hop in the car. You may be able to shave more time off your trip by taking a slightly different route due to congestion on the motorways or main arterial roads.”

Mr Buxton says, if possible, consider car-pooling with friends or colleagues so you can travel in T2 or T3 lanes to save valuable time on your journey.

“And if you are able to cycle to where you are going and are close to a bicycle path network for extra comfort and safety, please consider it. The weather is still great, and you might even get to work or university much quicker than if you were driving,” he says.

“Auckland Transport’s Operations Centre is also keeping an eye on the road network and will look to adjust traffic flows through intersections to help your journey times.”

Is public transport prepared for the busiest time of year?

Additional services, including school buses, have been added on routes we know will be the busiest.

“We have been planning for this month since March last year and have implemented a range of improvements to add additional capacity to our bus services,” says Rachel Cara, Auckland Transport’s Group Manager of Public Transport Operations.

“Following last year’s busy February and March period we permanently added additional bus frequencies and increased bus sizes on a range of Auckland’s busiest bus routes to make sure Auckland’s bus network has enough capacity to keep our city moving.”

Auckland’s public transport network will be the busiest on weekdays during peak times, between 7am-9am and 3pm-6pm, with Wednesdays generally the busiest weekday.

“Auckland has a well-connected, frequent public transport system that can handle the increased number of people who travel at this time of year, even on our busiest days,” Ms Cara says.

“Last year at this time, we saw over 400,000 trips taken on public transport in a single day, across our bus, train, and ferry networks

“The live departures and journey planner feature on the AT Mobile app are a really useful tool to track your service and see how full it is in real time,” she says.

So, what is the best way you can help to reduce congestion?

On the road be patient, your fellow travellers all want the same thing, to journey safely.

And if you are on public transport, Rachel Cara says there are things all passengers can do to ensure everyone can fit and have an enjoyable trip.

“We encourage that everyone standing on a busy bus or train carriage moves down as far as possible, filling every seat to create as much room as possible for more people to get on board,” she says.

“It’s always frustrating when you’re waiting for a bus and then see one go past which still has space available at the back.

“Another common pet-peeve is when people place their bag on the seat next to them or sit on the aisle seat, leaving the window seat empty.

“Your bag doesn’t need its own seat, but the person standing next to you might appreciate one.”

Rachel Cara also encourages Aucklanders to remember to tag on and off with contactless payments or their AT HOP card.

“This lets us accurately track the numbers of passengers onboard, allowing us to see which services are busiest and make adjustments where possible.”

“And remember, don’t forget to thank the driver as you tag off!”

VIDEO: The best way to behave on a crowded bus

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