Auckland bus users face another week of disruption after Auckland Transport announced all bus services and drivers for NZ Bus in Auckland will be suspended from 2am on Friday.
AT made the announcement after talks between NZ Bus and unions representing the drivers over a collective agreement broke down over pay and conditions.
NZ Bus CEO Calum Haslop said the threat made by drivers to not on Thursday morning to turn off the ticket machines and let communters travel free was "disingenuous and incredibly unhelpful."
"The company remains open to further bargaining, but simply can’t operate services while drivers take such action, and it appears that the Unions themselves can’t agree on what it will take to settle," Haslop said in a statement.
"Within hours of agreeing to undertake facilitated bargaining yesterday, the Unions then issued a further strike notice that includes drivers refusing to sign on to AT’s bus tracking and ticketing system," Haslop said in a statement.
"This action would result in a material breach of our contracts with AT and create significant health and safety issues across the wider network.
"We therefore have no choice but to suspend all drivers participating in this action and suspend our bus services while this strike notice remains in force.
"We have held further emergency discussions today in an attempt to prevent this, and despite Union officials indicated acceptance of the updated offer this afternoon, we now understand that they won’t be cancelling their intended strike action."
The bus services will be suspended until July 22.
The suspension will affect around 35 percent of bus services in Auckland. Union members wil be suspended without pay.
The affected routes include:
- CityLINK, InnerLINK, OuterLINK, TamakiLINK
- 101, 105, 106, 110, 122, 125, 125X, 128, 129, 14T, 14W, 162, 18
- 20, 22N, 22R, 24B, 24R, 25B, 25L, 252, 253, 27H, 27W, 295
- 30, 321, 333X
- 64, 650, 670, 68
- 75, 751, 755, 76, 774, 775, 781
- 801, 802, 805, 806, 807, 814, 82, 842, 843, 871
- 923, 924
The move comes on the back of a week of disruption for bus commuters in Auckland with around 700 bus services cancelled on Monday by industrial action.
Tramways and Public Transport Employees Union and First Union have been approached for comment.
