Student's petition leads revolt at East Auckland bus changes

A university student has launched a petition in the hope Auckland Transport will reverse changes made to the East Auckland bus network.

On the December 10, 2017, AT launched its new network for East Auckland which meant changes to bus routes, route numbers, and timetables.

AT's website says the new network is part of a simpler, more integrated public transport system, but University of Auckland student Khorshed Tarapore disagrees.

Ms Tarapore says she was angry when AT changed the bus network, before which she walked three minutes to her stop and caught a direct bus to university.

Now she has to walk 20 minutes and catch two buses.

"The main point for me was they turned something that was quite convenient for me to something very inconvenient."

After she raised the issue with Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown, a public meeting was held with AT which almost 200 people attended.

"Auckland Transport was really bad in the meeting. They thought everything they said was correct and whatever we said was wrong.

"I decided to start a petition to show Auckland Transport this is a really big problem and they're actually ruining public transport by doing this," says Ms Tarapore.

East Aucklander Alysha Hardey says she used to catch the bus every day to university but refuses to after the changes.

"I stopped taking the bus and went back to using my car to drive to the train station,. The buses just became so unreliable and way too full because they weren't frequent enough.

"My younger sister has also had trouble getting home from school as sometimes the first bus for her to catch is 40 minutes after she finishes, whereas it used to be no longer than five."

AT's media advisor James Ireland says the new network was to create shorter, more frequent bus routes that connect with fast-paced transport such as trains, busways, and ferries.

"We thank everyone for giving us their views and these will be considered. As part of the New Network rollout, it is reviewed every three months for the first year after it launches to check how it's functioning and see where improvements can be made."

Mr Ireland says AT has also received a lot of positive feedback on the new East Auckland bus network.

The petition has collected almost 1500 signatures and Ms Tarapore says she is in touch with Deputy Mayor of Auckland Bill Cashmore on the issue.