Auckland Transport has defended asking locals to consider avoiding travelling during peak times, saying people have forgotten how busy buses were pre-COVID.
Auckland Transport (AT) said on Monday the beginning of March is when there's a "very congested" road network and busier public transport services. The reasons for this include school and university students returning to their normal routines, as well as workers coming back from summer breaks. There has also been a shortage of bus drivers, AT said.
This message caused outrage online and was labelled "ridiculous" and "insulting".
"Seriously? No wonder so many people just give up and drive now - what an embarrassment," one person said.
"Hey! I wanted to catch an off-peak bus, but AT cancelled two in a row. An hour between buses...? This is all a joke to AT management and Board, right?" another replied.
Auckland Transport Head of Metro Optimisation Richard Harrison defended the message the organisation sent out.
"I say to those people, I'm glad to have the flexibility myself so I'm not taking up a seat. I want medics, teachers, retail workers, school kids, all those people who need to get to work at a certain time to be able to travel to work easily," he told AM co-host Ryan Bridge on Tuesday.
"We know through COVID-19, a lot of us have gained flexibility when we work. We can see that in our Hop card usage, we can see the travel patterns changing."
Harrison said they know people are going to work later and some are going home a bit earlier, so he's urging those people to consider their alternatives.
"I personally have got flexibility at Auckland Transport, I'm able to travel in after the peak, after doing first meetings at home and so those people it would be helpful if you can do that," he said.
AT believes next month is going to be the busiest March since 2019 and added they're currently running reduced services at the moment because of the ongoing bus driver shortage.
"We're seeing patronage now nudging 80 percent of the levels it was before COVID. What we're saying to people is it is going to be busy out there," he said.
"I think we've forgotten what March used to be like before COVID, it always used to be busy. I remember standing on the bus to work."
Harrison warned at "pinch points" during peak travel times, especially on the NX1 services coming from the North Shore, buses will be busy.
"It's going to vary from time to time. We're not saying that we're short, we're just saying to expect the buses to be busy," he said.
When questioned if AT is spending too much time on projects like cycleways, Harrison said the shortage has reduced since Christmas.
"The biggest challenge we're facing at the moment is the driver shortage. We've faced that for the last year and we're working hard on fixing that. Before Christmas, we had a shortage of over 500 drivers, so you can see the operators have made great progress in recruiting hard over Christmas," he said.
"Remember, this is a global problem. Sydney recently had to suspend services because of the driver shortage. We've heard from the US that they're having problems attracting people into the industry."
Watch the full interview with Richard Harrison above.
