MEDIA ADVISORY w/b 29 October 2018
An update on the new Wellington bus network and improving the passenger experience. This information is attributable to Greg Campbell, Chief Executive, Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Bus driver strike ends
As earlier advised, strike action by a small number of Tramways Union members employed by Tranzurban has been called off as from 2am tomorrow (October 30)

The strike began last Thursday (October 25) but had only a minimal effect on bus services in Wellington and the Hutt Valley. Tranzurban was able to continue running about 98 percent of all services as scheduled each day, and there was no impact at all on school services.

While pleased that there was little disruption, Metlink regrets the uncertainty caused by the strike.

Operational performance stats continue to show improvement
Despite potential disruption from the strike action, overall performance of the new network has continued to improve, with statistics remaining strong.

Even with strike action, overall 96% of bus services ran last week. Metlink’s performance target is 99.5%.
The performance indicator of punctuality at point of departure was 92.7%, a slight improvement on the week before. Matching of right bus size reached 83% at peak times.

We are working towards publishing key performance data online.

Double-decker campaign kicks off
A public information campaign about riding double-deckers gets under way this week.

With double-deckers a relatively new addition to the Wellington public transport fleet we considered it helpful to give bus customers a few tips on how to get the best out of them.

Useful advice includes checking the seat count screen before heading upstairs; to take a seat upstairs as quickly as possible so the driver can move off (there’s no standing upstairs) and getting ready to hop off in advance of the bus reaching your stop.

By streamlining the process of getting on and off the double-deckers, it’s hoped our “double-decker checker” will help both passengers and the bus network overall by shortening stop times and keeping services on schedule.

Miramar hub now operational; Kilbirnie to open shortly
The Miramar hub opened for business on Labour Weekend, joining Brooklyn as one of two new hubs now up and running.

The next hub to be completed will be the Kilbirnie hub, which is due to come into operation in November. It was hoped to have this hub operational at the end of October but due to continuing work on a major upgrade of the stormwater system in the same area and bad weather, we had to postpone its opening.

The stormwater work is complicated by the fact that it is located extremely close to in-ground high-voltage power cables owned by Wellington Electricity and these needs special supervision while work is carried out.

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