A new bus lane comes into operation in Symonds Street on Monday February 17, which will shave up to four minutes off the morning commute daily for more than 6000 passengers.
Its part of the implementation of some 15km of bus and transit lanes across the Auckland Transport road network in the 2014/2015 financial year. Another 25km is scheduled for the next two financial years.
The aim says Auckland Transport is to make public buses an attractive alternative to private vehicles. This will reduce road congestion for all road users. Monitoring shows that the newly installed outbound bus lane in Fanshawe Street has yielded travel time savings and improved reliability.
Symonds Street is Auckland’s second busiest bus corridor with an average of 70% of people travelling along the route choosing to use public transport.
The new bus lane will operate between Charlotte Street on New North Road to Alex Evans Street on Symonds Street between 7am and 9am.
The Symonds St bus lane is a component in a frequent service network encompassing 38 routes, mainly on arterial and collector roads.
Auckland Transport says during the morning peak it has 181 buses feeding into Symonds Street from Mt Eden Road and New North Road competing for space with other road users.
It says bus lanes help manage competing interests for limited road space at peak times of the day. In Auckland buses make up 2.5% of vehicles but carry nearly a third of commuters into the city.
