New bus network a “substantial challenge” but improving
New bus network a “substantial challenge”
but improving – independent
review
Improvements in
Wellington’s new bus services are "ongoing and sustained,"
an independent review into implementation challenges of the
Wellington City and Hutt Valley network has found.
The review, prepared by Australia-based consultants L.E.K. and released today by Greater Wellington Regional Council and The New Zealand Transport Agency, describes the introduction of the new network as a complex undertaking, creating a “substantial challenge.”
The simultaneous implementation of new operators with new fleets, drivers, KPIs and reporting regimes, and a new network with new routes and timetables, new fares and ticketing system resulted in a number of failures which amplified their effect on customers.
The report found that Greater Wellington had a robust governance structure and processes in place and that a significant proportion of the programme was delivered successfully and on time. However, the collective capability of the programme delivery team at the time was “insufficient for the transformational nature of the changes required”.
Aspects of the implementation, such as bus hubs, a complete new bus fleet, achieving an acceptable standard of real time information, and a sufficient number of adequately-trained drivers were delivered late or insufficiently. Greater Wellington also relied on operators to be forthcoming, timely and transparent about their true state of readiness for go-live.
Greater Wellington Regional Council chair Chris
Laidlaw said progress against the report’s findings was
well under way. The council had already identified many of
the issues through its own systems which include performance
data analysis, working closely with operators, and ongoing
dialogue with community groups.
Cr Laidlaw also
acknowledged Greater Wellington had fallen short on some of
the required areas when implementing the new network, and
this had caused regrettable disruption for Wellington City
and Hutt Valley bus customers.
“Since July we have been
listening and working closely with community groups and
operators to increase services, adjust timetables, ensure
the right size bus turns up, provide better data and
information to the public, and put things right.”
Despite initial issues, the report acknowledged that key
performance metrics demonstrate ongoing and sustained
improvement. Punctuality improved from 86% to 93%,
reliability increased from 94% to 99%, and correct bus size
performance rose from 66% to 80%.
Other areas of
attention included initial resourcing and capability. The
review found that, while the programme team identified
skills gaps, essential members of the team were appointed
later than required which hampered on-time
delivery.
“This combination of factors created significant challenge for operators and Greater Wellington to respond to. The decision to go-live in winter also exacerbated the impact on customers.”
The review, commissioned by Greater Wellington and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), looked at the implementation of the new network, and not the inherent design and philosophy behind it, or the limitations of the PTOM provisions.
Chris Laidlaw said these aspects will be covered in a later stage of the review.
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1812/Implementation_Review.pdf
Note
for editors:
Progress since 15 July,
2018
Consultation with the community has led to
a range of changes since July 15 designed to meet customer
needs:
Better performance against
timetables
• Improvements to the network
performance through timetable adjustments to a number of
Tranzurban Wellington city bus routes: 1, 7, 17, 17e, 19,
19e, 23, 23e, 24, 29, 29e, 30x and 32x. Lifting on-time
performance to a range of 90.2% to 97.6%.
More
bus capacity
• Banker buses
deployed.
• Better matching of bus sizes to customer
demand
Better targeting of
routes
• Route 3: services before 8am now
start from Lyall Bay instead of Rongotai, some buses in that
area will run more often.
• Route 18e: Introduced
off-peak and weekend services between Miramar and Karori to
make it easier for many to get to and from the university
and hospital.
• Route 2: Deployed extra peak time buses
on route 2 between Courtenay Place and Karori and Lambton
Quay and Seatoun.
And planned for 2019:
• Route 14:
Consultation with Hataitai residents on three direction
options and extension to Kilbirnie.
• Introduction of
city services to and from Vogeltown, following public
consultation.
• Consideration of a trial service to and
from Wellington Zoo.
• Improvements, planned for
introduction in February, to the network performance of NZ
Bus Wellington City bus routes: 2, 3, 12, 12e, 18, 18e, 21,
22, 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37.
• Further Tranzurban
improvements to Porirua, Hutt Valley and Wellington services
planned for New Year.
More effective customer
and performance data
• Introduction of
Customer Experience team, who travel the length of the
network each day observing and speaking to customers,
drivers, community groups and reviewing complaint and
performance data to help improve service.
• A
bus-by-bus review undertaken to ensure GPS signals and the
Real-Time Information equipment was installed and
functioning correctly.
• Introduction
of online reporting. Patronage, reliability and punctuality
data for most used routes published weekly on Metlink
website.