Wellington bus service, a disaster or a work in progress? Q+A investigates

September 3, 2018

Many are calling on central Government to fix the capital’s public transport woes.

Wellington public transport passengers have been driven to desperation since the city's bus system was revamped in July. 

The network overhaul has left many commuters stranded at their regular bus stops, with the Regional Council having to pay for Uber rides for passengers with long waits.

Passengers told TVNZ1's Q+A at times passengers are lucky to get on board as full buses tend to be a regular occurrence.

July's roll out of new buses, routes, timetables and drivers have seen issues with all components.

The union representing bus drivers are now calling on the Government to step in.

However the Regional Council want Wellingtonians to trust it will fix it, and have employed an army of workers to monitor bus numbers and answer passengers' questions.

Transport spokesperson Darron Ponter called it a "work in progress".

"This is likely to take three months before we've got this settled. From an operational perspective we failed… It's a network that has taken a while to stabilse."

There could also be strikes around the corner if pay and conditions for drivers are not improved.

When asked on Q+A if the Government were looking at reforming the way New Zealand fund bus services, Finance Minister and Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson said the Public Transport Operating Model "effectively asked councils in metropolitan areas to re-tender their bus services on a regular basis". 

The Wellington Central MP spoke about the bus fiasco in the capital on TVNZ1’s Q+A.

"It's pretty clear that that led to a bit of a race to the bottom in Wellington, there was under bidding based on drivers wages and conditions and the end result of that... is a shambles in Wellington.

"It's quite clear there aren't enough buses and there aren't enough drivers. That's a fairly basic thing to get wrong.

"We can't do much about that contract but we certainly can make sure it doesn't happen again."

He said Transport Minister Phil Twyford was revisiting the rules, and the impact on wages and conditions for drivers. 

Mr Robertson said it would "take some time to review". 

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