Hm. If only using public transport in Auckland offered up such dilemmas. Today I’ve experienced broken signage, late buses, confusing bus stop maps, a website that can’t process forms and a really unhelpful, surly driver.
Must be time for another trip to Wellington …
The boy-child, blissfully unaware of the manners’ maze that awaits him.
ZimmerBitch has relocated to Wellington for a few well-deserved days of coffee and socialising and socialising over coffee.
One consequence of this is a reliance on public transport; something that’s a bit alien to my usual car-borne existence. Wellington has pretty good public transport in my experience. I know the locals complain and to be honest, the airport-Hutt Valley bus is criminally expensive, but in general whenever I’m in the capital I find I can walk a short distance to a bus-stop and before long a bus comes along that is willing to take me someplace interesting faster than I could walk.
This morning, I had to get from my hotel in funky Cuba Street to Victoria University’s Pipitea campus; a relatively short and mainly picturesque walk, but not one I wanted to do in heels.
Being relatively early…
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Zimmerbitch 
Wonder if the new “simpler” fares, coming this August, will improve things in Auckland.
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They sound good in principle. A lot of my frustration with Auckland Transport comes down to late buses and rude drives. My son travelled to and from the CBD for three years to go to school and tells some horror stories about drivers not knowing the route, getting lost, missing stops and treating passengers (especially the young and new immigrants) with disrespect.
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😦 In this country we have to be tough to persevere with using public transport. 😦
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Yup! 😀
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Wellington’s public transport is so much better than here in Hastings. Enjoy your stay
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Sadly, that was an old post revisited and I’m still in Auckland. Hopefully I’ll get down to Welly soon. I seldom catch buses in Auckland, but thought I’d “do the right thing” yesterday because I was going to the CBD. All I can say is that they don’t make it easy!
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I feel your pain! I normally use trains or the subway but both are undergoing tunnel refurbishment at the moment so trains are severely restricted and the subway is off altogether (initially for a month, now extended to 6 weeks). Why do they have to do it all at once? And I was shocked at the price of the bus, shocked I tell you.
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You have to wonder really if there is any central planning for transport. Auckland is a odd-shaped city — a long isthmus — and with a long history of low population density. There used to be decent public transport in the central area but that was ripped out to make way for cars. Now we have over 1.5 million people trying to get around, mainly in their cars, but recently with more buses and some trains and ferries. We’re in the middle of extending the rail service in the CBD and it is total chaos! The bus service has expanded, but I suspect the standard of driver training and competence has dropped in the rush to hire more people. The infrastructure just can’t cope with the city’s population growth. Sigh.
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Some cities seem to get it right and all modes of transport are integrated. Not here – or, it seems, Auckland!
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Agreed! It always amazed me that I could visit my gran in Kirkcaldy and get round no bother, but can’t do the same at home. Fife has these little feeder buses that would work brilliantly in Auckland but no-one seems to have thought of it.
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