A new half-hourly bus service will run between Botany Town Centre and Manukau City Centre providing much needed direct public transport links from eastern suburbs to central Manukau.

The service begins operation on February 5 and will run six days a week. The Express, which will run along Te Irirangi Drive, will provide local service to the Dannemora area and give a regular connection to shops and other services.

Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis says the new service will make it much easier for people to travel by bus between two commercial hubs of the City.

“This is just the latest in a series of transport improvements in Counties Manukau. It’s only been made possible by the opening of Te Irirangi Drive, which is a key link route in the City, and is making journeys across Manukau much quicker.

“I’m pushing to have the regional road network completed as soon as possible because doing so will produce many spin-offs, including more efficient bus transport.”

Auckland Regional Council envisages that the Botany centre will become a transport hub linking the eastern and southern parts of the City and, with the Rapid Transit corridor, to the networks serving the whole region.

"ARC is putting its money where its mouth is by supporting provider's innovative public transport ideas such as this one. We hope the public will get in behind this initiative and reinforce the confidence we have in it, " says Auckland Regional Council Transport Committee chair Cr. Les Paterson.

The shuttle is a precursor to the planned future rapid transit services in Manukau. It will also open up extra opportunities for employment and study in the City. The service is one of five new trial services in the Auckland region.

Howick & Eastern Buses, who won the contract for the service, plan to use two super low floor buses on the route so the elderly and people with pushchairs have easy access to get on and off.

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