There have been 13 crashes at the new Christchurch bus exchange since it opened in May

Bus drivers are blaming a "complete flop" of an automation system for 13 bus crashes at Christchurch's new bus interchange.

The regional council (Environment Canterbury) blamed "driver error" for the crashes at the $53 million Lichfield St facility which opened on May 25.

Two of the crashes were bus-to-bus collisions. Six crashes involved a reversing bus hitting a temporary fence. Four involved buses hitting a bollard and one involved a bus hitting the right side of the bay when reversing.

Stacy Squires The bus exchange in Christchurch has had 13 crashes since opening last month.

The accidents caused $5000 of damage to buses, including rear panel damage, a broken window, a broken rear vision mirror and various paint scrapes.

The Amalgamated Workers' Union (Awunz) raised concerns over the interchange's design last March.

ECan blamed the crashes on drivers not checking their rear view mirrors, but Awunz assistant secretary Lindsay Chappell said this was "incorrect".

Christchurch's new bus interchange opened on May 25.

Bus drivers were led to believe automation and computer systems were going to resolve sole reliance on rear view mirrors, he said.

"They have blind spots directly behind them where they can't see anything."

Chappell said the systems were meant to ensure only one bus reversed at a time. However, up to three buses sometimes competed for space.

"It's like a dodgem track in there."

Issues with the automation systems were occurring daily, Chappell said.

"It's just been a complete flop, by the sounds of things."

Drivers were venting their frustrations to the union on a daily basis, he said.

"They're putting up with enough stress on the roads around Canterbury without having to deal with this."

ECan operations director Wayne Holton-Jeffreys said the had been a noticeable improvement in crashes as drivers became more familiar with the required manoeuvres.

Lines painted on the bays had made "a significant difference" to drivers' lining their buses up to enter or exit the bay, he said.

Similar bus interchanges in Hamilton and the United Kingdom used the reversing design.

ECan public transport manager David Stenhouse said bus drivers had "for the most part adapted" to the interchange design.

There were minor crashes at the previous bus exchange and being able to reverse was "just a skill they need to have".

"There will be a need for recurrent training for some drivers," he said.

Stenhouse said the positioning of bus reversing cameras would be reviewed.

"Overall the facility is working really well with more than 860 buses per day on average using it, that's 18,100 bus movements in the last month, without incident," he said.

CCDU REJECTS 'FLOP' CLAIM

Christchurch Central Development Unit acting director Don Miskell said the claim the interchange design is unsafe was "unfounded". He rejected the assertion that the systems were a "flop".

"There are numerous examples around the world where bus exchanges or stations have reversing buses and operate safely and effectively," he said.

The design and layout of was computer modelled and field tested by bus drivers, he said.

"Aside from a small number of incidents from more than 10,000 bus movements to date, it has worked well."

Safety measures included lights indicating when it was safe for drivers to reverse, and mounted cameras allowing drivers to see the area behind their buses, the spokesman said.

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