Posts Tagged ‘bus network’

Bus Stop Proposal for Meadowbank Train Station

19 May 2018

Another quick transport consultation! Most of you will know that over 1,000 residents signed the petition last year to get a bus service to connect with Meadowbank Train Station.

The petition noted that up to 22 car park spaces may have to make way for the bus stop and turn around. But also that just one bus per hour could deliver many more people, resulting in a net saving of car parks. The wider context of course is that on weekdays 100s of cars are parked along every street all the way to Bonnie Brae and Harapaki Street. More people are using the train each year, and whole lot more are likely to in five years’ time when the CRL opens, bringing Midtown, K Rd and Grafton closer to Meadowbank by train that they are by bus from the Meadowbank Town Centre.

Hence our support for the bus service. And for that matter, our support for better cycling / walking links to the station, not least from Gowing Drive! Besides parking hassles, one of the reasons we think the bus service will be popular for locals is because using the bus to the train station will be free from Meadowbank and St Johns if you also use the train.

Below is AT’s detailed design proposal for the bus stop and turn around. As you can see, the plan is for a bus stop and shelter right at the train station entrance, which we think is great. This makes for the shortest, flattest connection between the bus and train which is important for less able bodies, and allows the bus driver to see the trains on the platform. So buses shouldn’t inadvertently leave the stop just as a train pulls in!

The plans remove 21 car parks. They provide a number of time-restricted spaces for drop-offs and pick-ups, which is not always easy today without using nearby residents’ driveways (hardly ideal). The three car parks on the left hand side of Manapau Road have to go to allow the bus to swing around to the stop. These have been replaced with three new time restricted car parks opposite, at the island with the trees. Thanks to Orakei Local Board rep Carmel Claridge for that particular improvement 

But are there any other improvements that you could suggest? Can we squeeze another car park or two back in? Is there the right amount of parks in the pick up zone? Are you concerned about the possible loss of the trees, due to the new footpaths on the island? We think if the tree has to go, then it should be replaced with a new one. Or maybe the whole island could be replanted, saving on mowing costs?

*Closing date is this Monday 21 May 2018*

We haven’t been advised of a specific web page for this consultation, so please use the AT online feedback form: https://at.govt.nz/about-us/contact-us/feedback-form/ Select > “Making a suggestion” About > “Something else” and put “Meadowbank train station bus stop, Purewa Road” at the top of your comments. Or simply add comments on our  and we’ll work with the OLB make sure these get to AT.

 

New bus network: Meadowbank Train Station will be connected!

25 November 2017

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.

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