OPINION: Rolling on the river

Debrin Foxcroft | 25th November 2009

It was really, really worrying the day these words slipped out of my mouth: "Wow, Hamilton has a better bus system than Auckland.''

I sat down and took a few deep breaths. It was all the more depressing because it's true.

In the years - maybe four - since I was last in the mighty 'Tron, its public transport system has been reworked. Environment Waikato (pretty much equivalent to the Auckland Regional Council) has embraced a "wheel/spoke'' system: buses go from the city centre out to the 'burbs. The city is also circled both clockwise and anti-clockwise by buses, saving the need to go anywhere near the main transport hub. For which read congested Victoria St, the main drag, and its side streets.

Marvellous.

On the Orbiter bus you can criss-cross the Waikato River and take in the academic environs of the University, the gardens and maybe even the statue of the farming family. Or the one of the Little Bull.

The company running the buses for Environment Waikato is a multi-regional rather than a multi-national. Go Bus was formed six years ago from the merger of several family bus
companies. Calling itself the "big, little bus company'', it has run city services in Hamilton for several years and last year won contracts for Napier, Hastings and Tauranga.

But, after a quick visit to the home of civilisation, I had to return to Auckland. It made me want to cry.

I know this is comparing apples with oranges. The fair city of Hamilton has a population of 131,000 while Auckland tops out at around 1.4 million. But damn it, they are both still fruit.

With all these extra people, I would have thought there would be extra minds in Auckland to think about, debate and improve the public transport system across the region.

In Auckland, we have trains AND buses. But, on a good day, it still takes me at least an hour to get from my humble abode in Mt Albert to my Mum's home cooking in Henderson. That's 13km on the longest route - for anyone who's interested.

And that's not taking into account traffic or the occasion when the train sat 500m or so from New Lynn station for 20 minutes to allow another train to pass. My connecting bus was long gone and I spent an uninspired half hour waiting until the next 133 to Ranui through Henderson arrived.

That same evening, I watched two young North Shore girls wonder how the hell they would get home because the bus they had just missed was the last one bound for
Takapuna. They were left to call their Mum in the hope she might drive out to get them. It was 7pm and, let's face it, New Lynn transport hub is not the safest place in the world.

Even worse, for the pleasure of waiting, wondering and being late, I still must pay at least $6 each way.

Now, I know things will improve. Sometime. Soon. Maybe. The various city councils - while they're still in business - are debating the Auckland Regional Transport plan which was
released for consultation on November 19. But, after two years of using public transport in Auckland, I hold very little hope. I mean, come on, can anyone say "integrated ticketing?''

Auckland Regional Transport Authority makes the claim on its website that it is "delivering a world-class transport system that makes Auckland an even better place to live, work
and play''.

No. Until things improve, Hamilton is actually where that service is happening.

- Debrin Foxcroft is a reporter for The Aucklander.