Mayor Wayne Brown is pleased to announce that Auckland Transport is rolling out one of his election promises, new technology that will give buses priority across three key Auckland road corridors.

The announcement follows a call from Mayor Brown to explore the use of cost-effective technology to improve travel times and reduce congestion.

The technology uses GPS tracking to give buses priority at key intersections to keep them to their planned timetables. Trials at individual intersections in 2022 showed a reduction in wait times for buses of between 10-35%.

The technology has been introduced along the Manukau Road and Pah Road corridor and is planned to go live at the follow intersections over the next two months:

1. Dominion Road (ten intersections) on 28 April 2023
2. Eastern Busway (seven intersections) on 26 May 2023.

Mayor Wayne Brown says he looks forward to the improvements being rolled out across the city.

“I campaigned on a promise to fix Auckland traffic, transponders on buses were one of my simple solutions and I am pleased to see us make a start.

“It’s great to see Auckland Transport using modern technology to make common sense changes to traffic signals to fix our bus network, going to show you can make positive improvements with minimal investment.

“Reliable buses are essential to addressing the current public transport crisis, getting our city back on track, and this will have benefits for all road users.”

AT’s Group Manager Digital & Technology Delivery, Chris Creighton says that this solution is another step to get more people back on buses.

“We acknowledge it has been a tough time for public transport across the region. We are taking significant measures to fix this.

“Along with reducing the bus driver shortage, rolling out more bus lanes, and adding double-deckers on busy routes, introducing bus priority is another key step we are taking to improve reliability for bus users.”

Mr Creighton says the system AT has developed will allow buses to run to more reliable timetables.

“All buses in Auckland are fitted with GPS devices that transmit their location every 11 seconds.

“With this system, information such as whether the bus route is late running or not will determine if an individual bus gets priority at the upcoming intersection.”

AT will now look to develop a programme for further locations with the aim of either improving later running buses and/or speeding up the journey times for buses.

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