Auckland Transport (AT) put out a public transport travel plan for public comment in November 2012. Executive member Allen Davies wrote a submission and spoke to the submission Friday 1st February.
For the people of Massey there were three very important proposed changes, these being as follows;
- A 15 minute bus service during the period 7.00 am to 7.00 pm along the major bus routes.
- The North Western Motorway into Downtown Auckland would become one of those major routes.
- A change in the fare zones across all of the greater Auckland area which would put Massey on an equal footing with Henderson, Te Atatu and New Lynn, all of these areas would be in Zone 2 of the fare system.
Allen Davies was in support of these changes, it was always the Massey Community Boards position (Allen was Deputy Chairman, John Riddell Chairman and Warren Flaunty Council representative on the Massey Community Board that ceased to exist after Auckland Council was formed in 2010) that the Massey residents wanted to be able to travel directly to Downtown Auckland at all times of the day not only during the morning peak and back again in the afternoon peak and that the fare structure penalised Massey residents.
The Association supports Allen Davies submission and supported the position of the Massey Community Board.
This was always opposed by the then ARC transport planners who believed that Massey residents should travel to Henderson then catch the train, at long last they have realised that the Motorway is an important travel link.
For those who want to travel to Henderson and not Downtown, that route will also have a 15 minute frequency, so for Massey residents there are gains all round in both frequency and choice, along with the whole of the Waitakere City area being in the same travel zone.
One criticism of the plan and this was echoed by other speakers and that was that the NorthShore right up to Albany would all be in zone 1, this would be grossly unfair to those of us in the West. Mr Davies proposed that the zone 1 fare should finish just North of Takapuna and that Zone 2 finish just north of Albany.
As it was proposed Riverhead, Kumeu and Huapai would be in zone 3, correctly so, but Coatesville and Whangaparaoa would be in zone 2. Hopefully these anomalies will be addressed; it seemed ludicrous that Greenhithe would be zone 1 and Hobsonville zone 2, Coatesville zone 2 and Riverhead zone 3.
This is the present situation with the new upper harbour ferry service to both Hobsonville and Beach Haven, where the fare from Hobsonville is $12 and the fare from Beach Haven is $8 and the distance between the two is about 200 metres!
nb – read also the story – Massey Birdwood Settlers Association potted history. Also the story about on the buses the Whenuapai Bus Company on this site. Massey has had to fight for better bus services since the 1930’s.
- Allen Davies