There were 345,000 boardings in a single say on Wednesday, making it the busiest day on Auckland's public transport network in almost five years. (file image) Photo:
Passengers on Auckland's public transport network have hit the highest numbers since before the pandemic.
Auckland Transport recorded 1.9 million boardings on trains, busses, and ferries last week, the highest since peak patronage in 2019.
Auckland Transport growth and optimisation group manager Richard Harrison said it was good to see.
"We're at about 90 percent of where we were in 2019, and since then there's been a big uplift in flexible working and people working from home which has obviously had an impact," Harrison said.
"This time last year we were around 75 percent, so this is a massive improvement."
It comes as train lines faced multiple disruptions recently due to track issues, causing cancellations and delays to services which has frustrated commuters.
But this week, public transport passenger numbers continued to increase. There were 345,000 boardings in a single say on Wednesday, making it the busiest day on Auckland's public transport network in almost five years.
Harrison said while a spike in patronage was normal for this time of year, as university students returned and most people were back at work, the numbers showed March would be a particularly busy month.
"As Auckland's return from their summer break, often having used up their annual leave, we see more people back at work and therefore more people out on the roads as well as catching public transport.
"This further picks up towards March as schools and universities start up again."
Auckland Transport expects high passenger numbers for March and slightly longer wait times for commuters. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Harrison warned the higher passenger numbers might mean a slightly longer wait for commuters.
"We're committed to keeping Auckland moving, but it is already getting busier out on the roads and on public transport," he said.
"Driving and catching public transport could take a bit longer than normal, particularly in the morning and in the mid-to-late afternoon."
Auckland Transport had taken measures to manage the increased demand, including using bigger buses on busy routes, Harrison said.
"Our buses are fully staffed and we're running extra services on routes we know will be the busiest, so even if a bus is full, it will only be a short wait for the next one."
Auckland Transport has added extra trips to routes 22, 27, 30, and 27.
"We're monitoring the performance of the public transport system daily and looking at how we can better use the resources we have available to optimise the networks performance," Harrison said.