Additional buses are running and traffic signals have been optimised in an attempt to keep New Zealand's largest city moving throughout March - when congestion peaks each year, says Auckland Transport. File photo Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
More buses are running and measures have been put in place at key choke points across Auckland to help deal with the congestion that peaks in the city every March, says Auckland Transport (AT).
Parts of Tāmaki Drive, Dominion Road into the city, main roads around Howick and Pakuranga, Lincoln Road and Brigham Creek Road in the west, and Glenfield Road on the North Shore have been identified as some of the most heavily-congested routes.
AT's Richard Harrison told Morning Report the system was ready for March Madness, which coincided with students returning to schools and universities after the summer break.
"We've put out more trips on several routes that we knew were going to get busy and we put out the biggest possible buses, so you will see more double-deckers running round the network, and that's given us plenty of capacity to carry all of the people that choose to use public public transport."
Harrison said AT had been planning for the current increased capacity since August last year.
"Every March we see the most people moving around the city; we have this five-week period of maximum use of both the roads and public transport, so we monitor that, we try and manage the network as best we can but ... we're managing with the resources we've got and we can't just put out more roads," he said.
"What we can do is optimise the traffic signals wherever possible and make sure that public transport is working well so that people've got an option."
In addition to clogged arterial roads, March saw motorways across the city heavily congested at peak times, particularly in the mornings, Harrison said.
People could manage their travel at the busiest times by using the AT app to plan ahead and gauge how full buses were, he said.
"We all know it's going to take a bit longer to travel around the city at the moment, whatever mode you choose, so the best thing to do is plan ahead."
"Every March we see the most people moving around the city" - Auckland Transport's Richard Harrison
Harrison anticipated there would be around two more weeks of increased demand before people began to settle back into their normal rhythms in April.
"Commuters start taking more leave again as we head into Easter, so it will quieten down."
Demand for public transport has rebounded strongly in Auckland following the Covid-19 pandemic, with AT reporting late last month that it had recorded 1.9 million boardings on trains, buses, and ferries in a week - its highest since peak patronage in 2019.