Metlink says the Wellington region needs 120 more bus drivers Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Wellington commuters say the cancellation of 67 bus services due to a driver shortage is just another disruption to an already unreliable system.
The changes kick in today and affect 14 bus routes during peak times.
On the streets of Wellington, passengers said it was nothing they had not seen before.
"You either wait for a bus and it doesn't come, or you see the dreaded word that says 'scheduled' up there, which generally means the bus isn't coming but you don't know," one said.
"I take the 21, it's cancelled like everyday, especially after work and I don't really want to hang out in town at 10.30 after work but it's like always cancelled," another said.
Some said it was better to expect to wait longer, than to not know whether a bus would come at all.
"It's mildly inconvenient, but I'd rather know when a real bus is coming rather than have to wait you know, 'oh where is it?'," one man said.
It was these frustrations that led Metlink to cancel some services indefinitely.
General manager Samantha Gain put the disruption down to a labour shortage, and said the region needed 120 more bus drivers.
The agency did not know when these gaps would be filled, so the 67 planned cancellations provided passengers with more certainty.
"That's out of around about say 2000 services that we have on any given day in Wellington city, so it's a really small percentage," she said.
"Of course, for the people that take the services the percentage doesn't really matter, but we do want them to know that this is to try to bring some certainty to the timetable."
Some commuters say it's better to wait longer than to not know if a bus would come at all. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Greater Wellington Regional Council has written to Transport and Immigration Minister Michael Wood, asking for bus drivers to be included in the skilled migrant category.
Improving pay and conditions for drivers was important, but would not be enough to address the labour shortage on its own, it said.
Meanwhile, Wellington's new Mayor Tory Whanau said she would be meeting the minister soon.
"I've already started working with our Wellington region mayors, who are very much on the same page with me in terms of having better public transport, increasing the number of drivers we have," she said.
"And look, I look forward to meeting our Auckland mayor as well to see what solutions he might have."
New Zealand Tramways and Public Transport Union's Wellington branch secretary Kevin O'Sullivan said the minister was due to make an announcement about the funding shortly, but said better pay was only half of the equation.
O'Sullivan said a better workplace culture and relationship between the employer and workers was also needed.
