It's going to be a chaotic start to the week for commuters as Auckland bus drivers take industrial action which will likely impact tens of thousands of people.
Auckland Transport (AT) says Monday morning's strike could affect up to 700 bus trips. AT is urging commuters to use its Journey Planner and to consider their travel.
The bus routes affected are all on routes operated by NZ Bus, which AT says are "concentrated in the morning including peak commuting times".
"[This] will mostly affect services on the Auckland isthmus."
AT's executive general manager of public transport services Stacey van der Putten said AT had been informed that NZ Bus union representatives had agreed to enter mediation on Monday morning.
Van der Putten labelled the action "deeply disappointing", which she says comes at a time "when the reliability of services and our passenger numbers have been improving".
"We appreciate how deeply frustrating this is for our customers who have been incredibly patient over the past year while we worked to overcome the driver shortage."
Van der Putten said the current offer tabled by NZ Bus would see the company's Auckland drivers paid above the industry standard.
"And higher than the $30 per hour average wage which we are aiming to achieve this year for AT-contracted services."
She said AT "strongly believes" bus drivers should receive a fair wage.
"Which is why we have worked proactively to bring the industry together in recent years to support improvements to driver wages and conditions."
Van der Putten added Auckland's bus drivers have received a "number of meaningful increases to their wages".
"I hope that the unions and NZ Bus are able to quickly resolve this dispute tomorrow (Monday) so that tens of thousands of Aucklanders aren't unnecessarily inconvenienced this week over issues which could have been dealt with in mediation."
