Reliability of public transport in Auckland
Summary of our report
Auckland Transport is responsible for public transport in Auckland. It works with local and central government organisations and the private sector.
We saw many examples of Auckland Transport co-ordinating well with Auckland Council, KiwiRail Holdings Limited, operators, and others on significant work to improve the reliability and safety of the region’s public transport, such as training new ferry crew and installing information displays.
Although Auckland Transport informs the public about planned disruptions well, its complex processes and systems – which are largely manual – make it challenging to manage unplanned disruptions.
Auckland Transport could do more to understand passengers’ experiences and expectations. Although it has increased its data capability, its performance reporting could be more detailed and accessible and better reflect the way people use services. For example, its measure of bus punctuality considers timeliness at only the first and last stops of a route, but passengers might not ride a bus from the first stop to the last.
Auckland Transport could also improve its data collection and analysis to gain more insights into personal safety.
In this report
Why we looked at Auckland Transport
Auckland Transport is the largest (by spending) of Auckland Council's council-controlled organisations. It's important that Aucklanders have assurance about their public transport services, particularly given the level of recent disruptions. Our work could also be useful for other organisations responsible for public transport networks.
Planning and monitoring
Auckland Transport has initiatives under way or proposed that are associated with its five goals for public transport. But the documents we saw did not always describe the benefits those initiatives will achieve, when those benefits could be expected, or how the initiatives help Auckland Transport meet its goals.
Communicating about disruptions
Although Auckland Transport has invested in technology to make it easier for people to access information about the status and timeliness of services, the information is not always accurate. Auckland Transport needs to improve these processes so it can communicate about disruptions in a consistent and timely way.
Understanding passengers' experiences
Auckland Transport collects a lot of timeliness and location information about its bus, train, and ferry services. It doesn't report it in a way that matches how people use the services. It also collects information about safety incidents but doesn't routinely bring it together for analysis.
Performance reporting
We encourage Auckland Transport to better inform the public about its performance and the reliability of public transport. It could provide more detailed information than it currently provides and make the information more easily accessible.
Our recommendations
We have made five recommendations to support Auckland Transport to improve its communication, planning, and reporting. We encourage all regional public transport authorities to consider whether the findings in this report are also relevant to them.