New bus network: Meadowbank Train Station will be connected!
AT have released the new bus network and, although the link below still says that the #729 link to Meadowbank Train Station is subject to further investigation, AT has just confirmed that this will go ahead, from the start of the new network, in July 2018.
Naturally, we are delighted about this outcome. We acknowledge the work of the Orakei Local Board: they have been meeting with AT fortnightly to work through this issue among other things. They have heard the overwhelming support from our members and residents generally. Not only that we want the bus service extended to Meadowbank Station, but that we regard this as a positive step to address the car parking challenges in the area.
To the more than 1,000 of you who got involved and signed one of Richard Roxburgh’s petitions, in the mall one Saturday afternoon, or at the station on a cold winter’s morning: give yourselves a pat on the back!
The details still need to be worked out, and our work continues, in particular as we advocate for a good level of service, and useful operating hours for the new #729 (note the correct description should be Ellerslie Station to Mission Bay via Meadowbank and Grand Drive). As you can see in the timetables in the same link the #729 is proposed to run hourly, and not after 9 pm weekdays and not on weekend evenings at all. This may work for transferring to your train, especially through the day when there’s a train every 10 or 15 minutes; but we don’t see this as providing a useful service for getting back on the bus from your train! Or for getting back by train from an evening in in the city, or Sylvia Park, or for that matter from the Mission Bay waterfront.
We’re also engaging with Auckland Transport about how to address the loss of a bus service through St Johns Park. Our proposals include routing the #729 bus through Norman Lesser Drive and Panapa Drive, though there may be other possibilities, and as always we are focused on the outcome (a bus service through St Johns Park) not the specific solution. At this stage it looks like we may have to wait until after the new network is up and running.