Transport

Tranzurban blames flyover and children for bus chaos

The troubled new operator of over half of Wellington’s bus routes said it was led to believe the Basin Reserve flyover would be built when it tendered for the contract.

But Tranzurban, the company awarded the contract to operate the majority of bus routes in Wellington, told the Transport Select Committee on Thursday it had counted on the construction of the flyover when it bid for its contract.

No one escaped blame for the bus debacle in the heated select committee, not even children who were accused of taking too long on the steps of double decker busses.

The Basin Reserve flyover is a perennial feature of Wellington transport discussions, but it was officially scrapped in 2015 following public outcry and an appeal in the courts.

Tranzurban managing director Paul Snelgrove said the company was “led to believe” the flyover would be in place and planned routes based on that information.

There is some confusion about the source of Tranzurban’s misinformation. Wellington’s bus routes were designed by independent contractors working on behalf of the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Mixed messages

It seems no one knows why Tranzurban was given the impression that the flyover would be in place by the time the new bus service was implemented. The flyover was meant to ease the chronic congestion that plagues the area around the Basin.

“[I’m not sure] how factual it was, but that’s what we were lead to believe,” Snelgrove said.

Tranzurban transport and operations director Keven Snelgrove told the committee he could not remember who led the company to this conclusion.

“When the flyover was designed the flyover was going to be in place, there were some extra bus lanes going into place,” he said.

But the Greater Wellington Regional Council has refuted some of Tranzurban’s remarks.

It told Newsroom the flyover was not factored in to any route designs completed by the contractor.

The Number 1 bus route, which runs regularly between Island Bay and Johnsonville has been subject to chronic delays.

Paul Snelgrove said a planned review of the bus routes had been brought forward. The Number 1 route had initially been slated for review after Christmas, but will now be reviewed next month.

The Number 1 bus route, which runs between Island Bay and Johnsonville, around the Basin Reserve, would be reviewed in November.

Keven Snelgrove said the route needed to improve.

“There is a significant time correction that needs to happen,” he said.

Poor consultation

National MP Nicola Willis, the party’s Wellington Central candidate, told Newsroom the controversy over the flyover spoke to a deeper issue of poor consultation from the regional council.

Willis said she questioned whether changes were made to the routes that factored in changes like the flyover and whether this was raised in the consultation process following the implementation of changes.

“Did they make any changes to the routes, at what point and did they listen to consultation?,” she said.

She said the persistent message from bus companies in the Wellington region was the council had been persistently poor in responding to feedback.

NZ Bus, which had run the majority of bus routes in Wellington prior to the Tranzurban, said communication had been poor.

NZ Bus CEO Zane Fulljames told the committee it had urged the regional council to delay the implementation of the new scheme, but the council’s response was a simple “no”.

Tranzurban also believed the timing was too tight, saying the new system should have been rolled out in the Hutt Valley in 2018 and in Wellington in 2019.

Fulljames also said the council was working with a flawed procurement model.

“The model they were working with was designed to drive down cost,” he said.

Asked what he thought of Regional Councillor Chris Laidlaw’s statement that he would do little differently if given the opportunity to roll out the scheme again, Fulljames said he thought the statement “breathtakingly arrogant".