NZ News

Auckland’s most cancelled bus routes

Published

4 years ago

April 4, 2023

News Staff

If you use the bus in Auckland, you’ll be familiar with cancellations. An RNZ investigation reveals where they happen most often.

On the least reliable route in Auckland, the bus fails to show up a third of the time.

For the worst Wellington routes, click here.

An RNZ investigation of buses in Auckland and Wellington examined every weekday service in the two cities during February. It found an average of 1085 cancellations on a weekday in Auckland, and 448 daily cancellations in Wellington.

The investigation also reveals the bus routes in each city most prone to cancellation.

In Auckland, it’s the 845, which had more than a third of its scheduled trips cancelled in February. The service between Milford and Takapuna on Auckland’s North Shore includes stops at schools and North Shore Hospital.

The 845 route is one of 16 that operate in North Auckland among the 20 worst routes for cancellations.

North Shore ward councillor Chris Darby said he’s heard frustration from constituents.

“Right now our bus service is missing the back axle, so to speak,” Darby said.

Parts of a city can be hit harder than others because of the way the contracts are awarded to private companies. Routes are bundled into ‘units’ and companies bid to secure the contract for the unit. If the company holding the contract struggles to retain and recruit drivers, passengers in that unit will be hit with cancellations.

Five different companies run northern services: Ritchies, Tranzurban, NZ Bus, Go Bus, and Bayes Coachlines.

Ritchies, which runs 62 percent of northern trips, cancelled 17 percent of weekday trips during February. Tranzurban runs a single service, the NX2 from Hibiscus Coast to Auckland University. It ranked 12th worst for the percentage of weekday trips cancelled. During February, more than 1300 of approximately 5000 scheduled trips were cancelled, representing a quarter of timetabled trips not occurring.

NZ Bus, which runs almost 20 percent of trips, had 2 percent cancelled.

Darby wanted to see a tougher approach from Auckland Transport.

“Myself and other councillors have been demanding for probably over a year now that Auckland Transport do a lot more in sitting hard up against these bus companies, the operators themselves to ensure that they are doing the very best possible to run their part of a network,” said Darby.

Operator incentives

Auckland Transport’s metro optimisation manager Richard Harrison said its contracts with bus companies have a carrot and stick component. Companies were charged abatements for missing performance targets and received bonuses for meeting them. He couldn’t give details on how many abatements have been issued, but said the fines were set high enough to be an incentive.

“The bus operators run on quite a tight margin. They’re not taking a large profit from us, they’re not a bank, so they feel it.”

Cancelled trips count towards a company’s ‘reliability’ performance target. If more than a small number occur then abatements are issued. These are set at a level similar to what it costs to run a bus trip, minus the cost of fixed assets, like buses.

“We’re still paying them to have the vehicle available because as soon as we get drivers back, we want that vehicle to come back into the fleet,” said Harrison.

Some companies, such as Howick and Eastern, which run services in the east of Auckland, and Pavlovich Coachlines, which runs services in the west of Auckland had done well in recruiting drivers, he said. Staffing gaps still remained for Ritchies and NZ Bus.

Harrison suggested it was a numbers game; those with bigger fleets who needed more drivers were likely to take longer to fill vacancies.

Ritchies director of people Sharon Scott said the cause of recent cancellations on its northern services was twofold. “As well as the ongoing driver shortage, over the past few weeks there’s also been a higher rate of flu and illness and our drivers would not want to pass a cold or other illness to passengers so that impacts our rosters.”

Asked how many vacancies it has or the hourly rate it pays drivers, RNZ was told Ritchies “can’t help with those specifics” due to pay and vacancies varying widely.

Ritchies has provided driver vacancies weekly to Auckland Transport, but Auckland Transport said it couldn’t release that information about the city’s public transport companies without consulting with the private companies.

Auckland Transport did provide an estimate that there was a shortfall of 20 percent of drivers at the company. A union spokesperson said the hourly wage at Ritchies is $28.

Tranzurban did not respond to RNZ’s questions. Auckland Transport said Tranzurban’s shortfall of drivers is 30 percent.

Reduced schedules

These cancellations come on top of a reduction in timetabled trips in October 2022, which saw hundreds of trips removed from timetables.

Auckland’s hardest-hit areas were central city and western suburbs, with 15 percent of weekday central trips and 5 percent of trips scheduled for western areas removed from schedules.

One hundred and eighty trips were removed from Ritchies’ northern timetables, although 37 trips were reinstated on 20 February.

Route 27T takes the cake as the route most affected by bus driver issues. The entire service which runs from Three Kings to Britomart was removed from schedules on 20 February.

In a brief update on its website Auckland Transport warned users of the defunct 27T route that seats on other buses may be hard to secure. “At busy times 27H and 27W buses are likely to fill up. Please consider alternative routes or travelling at other times if you can.”

The most recent patronage statistics from Auckland Transport, to September last year, showed 1000 to 1700 people a day used the service.

“Honestly, it’s very frustrating,” said a commuter on the route, who had missed two university lectures in a week. “All the buses were full, there was probably 50 people waiting here.” She waited over an hour, before taking another, longer bus route.

“It’s made getting into the city impossible in the mornings because everyone’s trying to catch it,” another commuter told RNZ. “Everyone’s moved back a few bus stops, so that by the time it gets here, it’s already full.”

Harrison admitted: “We stuffed up on that one.

“There are three variants of that route and we believed genuinely, having looked at the data and what we thought would happen was that the W’s and the H’s will be able to cope with demand on Mount Eden Road. We got that wrong.”

He said single deckers were swapped for double deckers to increase capacity, but did not mention reinstating the 27T.

Commuters told RNZ in order to get into the city in time for work and morning lectures they had resorted to getting to the bus stop at least 40 minutes earlier.

“I left home at 6:30 or 6:45, just to get a bus to my nine-o-clock class yesterday.”

Network-wide, the worst time on February weekdays was between 7 and 8am, with around 148 trips cancelled each day. Cancellations start to peak again from 3pm and continue to 7pm, with more than 100 cancellations per hour

So, when will Aucklanders be able to stop checking the Auckland Transport app every morning to see if their bus is cancelled?

“As soon as possible,” Harrison said. “I really want to stop dealing with cancellations, I hate it.”

Auckland’s bus driver shortage which stood at more than 500 in December has been chipped away at. The most recent figure is 369 vacancies, with one company reporting to have 43 offshore drivers in the process of securing visas. Getting paperwork in place and drivers into the country, settled and trained on city roads takes time though.

“The loose timelines we’re getting from operators is it’s going to be an incremental thing over the coming five to six months.”

Timetable reductions could be here to stay. Auckland Council’s proposed 2023/2024 budget suggested the cash-strapped council could save $21 million by not reinstating removed trips.

“I wait to see where the budget lands.”

Source: RNZ

Latest News

Police say person who fired gun at officers still at large

Published

2 days ago

November 12, 2026

News Staff

Police say a person who fired a gun at officers in Napier is still at large.

Eastern District Commander Superintendent Joel Lamb said Police tried to stop a vehicle in the Pirimai Area at about 10pm on Tuesday.

He said someone in the back seat pointed what was presumed to be a firearm at officers pursuing the vehicle.

“Staff have then heard two distinct gunshots as the firearm was discharged.

“Fortunately, neither of our officers were injured, and the patrol vehicle did not sustain any damage.”

He said hours later, the vehicle was seen travelling north on the Waikato Expressway towards Auckland.

Police seized the vehicle at an address in Manurewa, but they had not found the alleged offender.

Lamb said people who lived at the Manurewa address were engaging with Police.

He said Eastern District and Counties Manukau Police were making enquiries.

“Presenting a firearm at a Police officer is a serious escalation that puts our staff and the wider community at risk. This behaviour is entirely unacceptable.

“We are taking this incident extremely seriously and will be pursuing all lines of enquiry to locate the offender and hold them accountable.”

Police asked anyone who witnessed the incident to contact Police on 105 or online using the reference number 261111/3764.

Information could also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

rnz

Latest News

New Zealand sides named for RLWC finals

Published

3 days ago

November 11, 2026

News Staff

The players tasked with ending Australia’s Rugby League World Cup dominance have been named.

The Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns have announced their squads for this Sunday’s World Cup finals in Brisbane.

Both sides are chasing their first titles since 2008, and both are looking to end their opponents run of three crowns in a row.

“Our Kiwi Ferns have been so dominant in years gone by, and we want to bring dominance back to this jersey, so I think it will be a case of who wants it more,” said co-captain Georgia Hale of the impending clash.

The Kiwis get a major boost for the final as they welcome back Ronaldo Mulitalo after he served a one-match ban for a high tackle against Fiji Bati.

Mulitalo replaces Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who moves to the six-man bench, which again includes utility Te Maire Martin, middle forwards Naufahu Whyte, Erin Clark and Xavier Willison plus fullback Keano Kini.

Loose forward Joseph Tapine will make his 30th Test appearance in a familiar pack again, including second-rowers Isaiah Papali’i and Briton Nikora, and props James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota.

Winger Jamayne Isaako is on the cusp of claiming the New Zealand record for most Test points.

His five goals against Tonga lifted his career points tally to 225 – level with Shaun Johnson – while centre Casey McLean goes into the final with 16 tries in just eight Tests.

Fisher-Harris will again captain the team.

Fullback Ponga said the goal of the group was clear.

“We have high expectations around what we want to achieve, and obviously winning a world Cup is one of them.”

Meanwhile, Ricky Henry has selected a settled side to take on the Jillaroos, led by their lethal centre combination of Stacey Waaka and Mele Hufanga.

Veteran Apii Nicholls takes the number one jersey, Leianne Tufuga and Mackenzie Wiki on the wings.

Henry has stuck with his halves pairing of Chantay Kiria-Ratu and Raecene McGregor with Alexis Tauaneai, Georgia Hale and Otesa Pule up front.

Rounding out the starting pack is Shaniece Monschau, Kaiyah Atai, and Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa.

“We have been building well throughout the tournament; we understand the Jillaroos side, and will give it our all to make New Zealand proud this weekend,” said Henry.

RLWC Finals:

Kiwi Ferns vs Jillaroos- 6.10pm

Kiwis vs Kangaroos – 9.35pm

Sunday November 15

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Live blog updates on RNZ

Kiwi Ferns:

1. Apii Nicholls 2. Leianne Tufuga 3. Mele Hufanga 4. Stacey Waaka 5. Mackenzie Wiki 6. Chantay Kiria-Ratu 7. Raecene McGregor 8. Alexis Tauaneai 9. Georgia Hale 10. Otesa Pule 11. Shaniece Monschau 12. Kaiyah Atai 13. Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa.

Interchange: 14. Ashleigh Quinlan 15. Annessa Biddle 16. Shannon Mato 17. Ivana Lauitiiti.

Reserves: 18. Brooke Anderson 19. Zahara Temara 20. Brianna Clark 21. Abigail Roache 22. Tenika Willison.

Kiwis:

1. Kalyn Ponga, 2. Jamayne Isaako, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Casey McLean, 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo, 6. Kodi Nikorima, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. James Fisher-Harris (c), 9. Jeremy Marshall-King, 10. Moses Leota, 11. Isaiah Papali’i, 12. Briton Nikora, 13. Joseph Tapine (v/c).

Interchange: 14. Te Maire Martin, 15. Naufahu Whyte, 16. Erin Clark, 17. Xavier Willison.

Reserves: 18. Keano Kini, 19. Phoenix Crossland, 20. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 21. Scott Sorensen, 22. Leo Thompson.

rnz

Latest News

Opportunities to mitigate multi-million-dollar RNZ budget blowout likely missed – experts

Published

4 days ago

November 10, 2026

News Staff

Multiple opportunities to identify and mitigate a multi-million-dollar budget blowout at RNZ appear have been missed, according to the former executive director at Audit New Zealand.

The public broadcaster on Monday revealed a near $12 million shock financial loss after a litany of financial blunders, which will now lead to sweeping job cuts.

The $11.8m loss is more than 25 times the $470,000 RNZ had expected to lose over the year to June.

CEO Paul Thompson took responsibility for the result, and said internal reports gave an inaccurate picture of the finances, meaning the scale of the loss only became clear in October.

RNZ’s former chief financial officer Hilary Parker resigned unexpectedly in early October.

The board said it would commission an independent review into what went wrong.

Independent contractor Stephen Walker, who left the Audit Office earlier this year, said the size of the loss was surprising, as was the length of time it took to identify it – months after the financial year ended.

“Probably more of a concern is that they had seemingly been unaware that they were running up a significant deficit until they were in the preparation stage of their annual report in October.”

Walker said public entities typically produced monthly financial reports.

An interim audit also took place before the end of the financial year, he said, but if the organisation hadn’t identified significant losses at that stage, the auditor could also be in the dark.

“It seems that there’s a real weakness in forecasting and budgeting that’s occurred here and that the monthly accounts, when they’re produced, either haven’t identified these significant variances against budget or the magnitude of them really hasn’t come to light until right towards the end of the financial year,” Walker said.

“And really at that point, there’s no opportunity for the chief executive, the leadership team to take, and the board to take, any corrective action because the year has effectively been completed.”

Walker said the “significant miss” was difficult to account for given it was more than 10 percent of RNZ’s total funding.

He said based on RNZ’s annual report, financial complexity didn’t appear to be a factor.

“This $11.8m loss isn’t made up of one particular item … it seems to have been contributed to by a number of separate expense lines running over budget. So I don’t think it’s necessarily to do with complexity.”

Among the errors, RNZ wrongly counted $2m from land sales as income in its budget. Staff costs also came in $3.2m over budget, including $1.4m in redundancy payments.

Professor at Auckland University’s business school Norman Wong said based on media reports the issues identified were “significant and troubling”.

“But recognising the sale of land as income in their budget is a basic error that one would have expected to have been caught and corrected well before it got to this point.”

With funding reductions at RNZ over the past two years, Walker expected greater scrutiny of financial results.

“Virtually every public entity has had their annual budget reduced. And so you would expect … the leadership team on a monthly basis and board – I’m not sure how frequently the board will consider the information – but you would expect them to be interrogating the results on a regular basis throughout the year,” he said.

Walker said initiating an independent review was the correct course of action and that he’d want to understand what information the leadership team and the board were regularly receiving.

He said he’d “love to say” surprising financial results were rare, but conceded they occured on a semi-frequent basis during his time leading the Audit Office.

“The benefit of independent scrutiny by the Audit Office – and the auditors providing that support to the Auditor General – [is] that the reporting is fairly presented at the end of the year, whether it’s good, bad or ugly.”

rnz