Auckland Transport's Dave Hilson explains why the Outerlink route has to change. Photo: Maia Ingoe
- Changes to one of Auckland's most popular bus routes are coming - leaving two suburbs out of the loop.
- The Outerlink bus currently runs a continuous loop around the city's inner suburbs, but from November, it will start at St Lukes and end at Newmarket.
- The changes mean passengers in Mount Eden and Balmoral will no longer be able to catch the orange bus.
Our journey starts at Victoria Park in central Auckland - one of the spots where Outerlink and Innerlink buses are often held up, because drivers need to change over.
With me is ex-bus driver Dave Hilson - now network planner for Auckland Transport.
We have barely been talking for five minutes when a disgruntled passenger stops us.
"Are you a public transport person?"
The man is one of many passengers who get held up here by Innerlink and Outerlink buses, only a few stops before their destination.
"I don't use it now. I get on at Three Lamps, you get down here, you stop for 10 minutes. You're only five minutes from town," the passenger said to Hilson.
"This doesn't work. It works [for] the drivers, there's plenty of room, but look at all the buses. There's five buses here. I don't use it because it's hopeless."
Once the Outerlink route changed in November, ending the continuous loop, there would be no need for it to stop and hold up passengers at Victoria Park or at the universities, Hilson said.
"Instead of being a full loop, it's gonna finish at St Lukes in one direction, come round, and then finish at Newmarket. [This takes] away the need to have the long stop here."
As we departed from Victoria Park, Hilson explained why the Outerlink was changing.
The Outerlink route had struggled with reliability. Photo: Maia Ingoe
Because the route currently looped through high-traffic and residential areas over 24 kilometres, it had always been unreliable, he said.
"To be able to get a timetable that can do that sort of loop, through that sort of traffic, at exactly the same time trip after trip, is nigh on impossible."
By the time we get to the University stops, the 10 or so students on board depart and the bus is empty. This is the technical stop and start of the Outerlink as it is now, and the bus waits for a few minutes before continuing to Parnell.
Frustrated passengers being held up by a late bus, or a too-early bus having to wait, was one of the reasons for chopping up the loop, Hilson said.
"By making this an end-to-end route between St Lukes and Newmarket, [with] no expectation of the loop, it means we've got room to build that little bit of a buffer in there.
"When it gets to Newmarket or St Lukes, even if it is early, that's the last stop, all the passengers are off. [Then] the bus will go and layover, park up, and then start its next trip on time."
Under the changes, Outerlink passengers travelling between St Lukes and Newmarket would have a more reliable bus at the same frequency.
Those in the Mount Eden and Balmoral Road sections would have to get used to changing buses - but this, too, would be an improvement, Hilson said.
"With routes being more direct and more reliable, you've perhaps got a five-minute wait there. But in the past, your Outerlink might have been five, 10, 15 minutes late."
Existing bus routes along Mount Eden Road and Manukau Road would have higher frequencies at peak times, and a school bus service would be added along Manukau Road.
The Outerlink changes were part of the Regional Land Transport Plan consultation this year - of 13,000 overall submissions, 80 people commented in support of the Outerlink changes.
Albert-Eden local board chairperson Kendyl Smith said that was not a true reflection of residents' attitudes.
In another consultation in 2019, 1200 submissions showed people in the suburb were not a fan of the change, she said.
"It was mostly negative. And look, I understand - people don't like change, and [Auckland Transport] were very aware that the community wasn't ecstatic about the idea of the change.
"I totally accept that there is an issue with reliability for some people on the Outerlink, but I feel like our community really cares about that transport link and haven't really been properly targeted in the consultation for that."
There should have been another standalone consultation on the Outerlink, Smith said.
But Auckland Transport's Dave Hilson said people should give the new routes a go before they judged it.
"Get out, give it a try - you might just find it works for you."
The changes to the Outerlink route come into effect in November.
