13 October 2015

New bus lanes and stop changes from Sunday

There are big changes coming to the central city from this Sunday 18 October with more bus lanes and some bus stops moving.

Auckland Transport has added more than 1.2km of new 24 hour a day, seven days a week, bus lanes to the city centre to minimise effects on bus timetables when construction starts on the City Rail Link (CRL).
In November, a new stormwater main being tunnelled under the eastern side of Albert Street between Swanson and Wellesley Streets for the City Rail Link will affect traffic lanes at these and the Victoria Street intersections.
Some bus routes and stops are being moved to new locations away from these construction works.

The new bus lanes are on:
• Fanshawe Street between Daldy and Halsey Streets
• Halsey Street between Fanshawe and Victoria Street West
• Victoria Street West between Graham and Queen Streets
• Wellesley Street West between Sale and Queen Streets
• Mayoral Drive between Cook and Wellesley Streets
• Hobson Street between Wellesley and Victoria Streets
General Manager AT Metro Mark Lambert says the bus lanes separate buses from other traffic, enabling them to bypass traffic congestion so they have shorter journey times and can keep to their timetables. “This encourages more people to use buses, which in turn, means fewer cars on the road.”

The new bus lanes operate 24 hours a day and motorists who are turning left can only enter a bus lane 50 metres before the intersection.

There also changes to bus stops in Queen St, Quay St, Lower Albert St, Albert St, Victoria St, Mayoral Dr, Vincent St, Fanshawe St, Sturdee St.

The InnerLink will no longer travel along Albert Street. It will use Queen Street instead.
Auckland Transport has ambassadors out and about in the city to help people. Affected bus stops have posters with information detailing the changes to that particular stop.

To find out how the changes affect you go to: www.AT.govt.nz/citycentre

ENDS

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