Residents have their say on Pakuranga's T2/bus lane

Auckland Transport is facing mixed opinions from East Auckland residents over a planned T2/bus lane on Pakuranga Rd.

More than 100 people attended a public meeting last Wednesday at the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club to discuss the Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative Eastern Busway project.

The T2/bus lane is one of several traffic management plans AT will use during the construction of the Pakuranga to Panmure stage of AMETI from March/April 2019 to late 2020.

The T2/bus lane will occupy sections of Pakuranga Rd’s outside westbound lane from Highland Park to Pakuranga Plaza.

AT did not consult the public on its traffic management plan as it is intended to be temporary.

Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown, who hosted the meeting, said he organised it so residents could raise questions and provide feedback.

“I’ve done a survey of locals’ concerns. I’ll be putting across all of those views to Auckland Transport and working through whether there might be able to be some modifications and changes to [the T2/bus lane],” he said.

The traffic management plan aims to keep travel from Pakuranga Rd and Lagoon Dr to central Auckland close to pre-construction times by reducing the total number of vehicles on the road. It intends to incentivise carpooling and public transport use.

AT communications manager Matt Poland said AT is “certainly looking at opportunities to take on board the feedback from [the public meeting]” but will “have to see” if it leads to changes.

Mr Poland noted residents’ concerns about the intersections of Cascades Rd and Gossamer Dr off Pakuranga Rd.

“It’s really a process for us about continuously monitoring and making changes if required,” he said.

However, Half Moon Bay Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Keith Ingram did not believe changes would result from the public meeting.

He said replacing Pakuranga Rd’s outside westbound lane for a T2/bus lane “will create a dog’s breakfast” for single-occupant drivers as they would need to bypass the T2/bus lane and push into the main traffic flow.

Mr Ingram said this would impact drivers who turned left from Cascades Rd to Pakuranga Rd and then turned left from Pakuranga Rd onto Gossamer Dr.

A number of other residents at the meeting also raised these concerns.

Mr Ingram said buses on the lane might frustrate some T2 users. A number of stops on Pakuranga Rd lack refuge areas for buses to pull over off the lane to collect passengers.

“They’re going to follow that bus all the way down the bus lane [and stop] at each stop, or these cars are going to get frustrated.

“When you get cars frustrated and pushing [to the right] into the main traffic is when you have accidents,” he said.

Other residents at the meeting supported the T2/bus lane.

One resident referred to modelling by consultancy firm Mott MacDonald commissioned for AT that showed the benefits of the T2/bus lane on travel times compared to having no traffic management strategies in place.

His comment was met with applause.

Student Jackson Fowler, who regularly travels on Pakuranga Rd alone in a private vehicle, said he found the public meeting informative.

“The more I’ve learned about it, I think, the more open-minded I’ve become about the T2 lane,” he said.