You think that at last you have escaped the UK and that you will be able to relax and forget your troubles which can be left behind in Britain. But if you want to escape British commercialism and all of its large companies, you’re in for a letdown.
For the recommendation is that you catch the bus from the airport to the hotel/town/lodging… and you hope to have been set free from Elizabeth II’s land. Think again. For the bus you shall board is a familiar one. The bus you shall board is a Stagecoach one.
Yes, continuing my mad tour of NZ, today we look at the buses operated around the place, the company? Stagecoach New Zealand. The cities? Wellington and Auckland, the largest cities in the country. In today’s relatively brief op we explore the world of NZ buses.
A Background…
Stagecoach have literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of vehicles in New Zealand offering services which span the country. It is not uncommon to find a vehicle numbered something like ‘1072’ or higher, meaning they have many, many buses.
In fact, their depot is so large that it is marked on many small, tourist-style maps, even though no bus services depart from there and it is rather out of town. The services they offer run far and wide here in New Zealand. You can get anywhere.
The Journey Begins…
Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World is the destination. Can you get there by bus? A quick trip to the concierge in the hotel you are stuck in will decide. Naturally, the journey is possible since there are hundreds, literally hundreds of routes around the city.
Yes, the journey is makeable but not without its snags. In line with common complaints, the concierge got it wrong and directed us to the street behind the hotel we are in [Stamford Plaza, Auckland, op on the way], namely Queen’s Street.
But the car-carrier we should have been directed to is actually Commerce Street, but that was all sorted easily as will soon be explained. We are in Auckland’s [Famous??] Market, and that’s where we are stranded, trying to arrive at Kelly
T’s.
Get Lost…
No, no! No offence intended, I’m talking about what happens in Auckland. Like many cities around the world, AKL’s road network is build in a grid[ish] network, supposedly to make navigating easier, but after some of the road trips we’ve had, that’s open to discussion…
We exit the market empty-handed after finding nothing of significant interest and want to get to the underground aquarium. The Stagecoach-liveried vehicles are swarming everywhere, but we can’t seem to find our bus.
When you can’t find that yellow brick road…
So we stand at a random stop hoping we’ve got the right one. But since there are over 500 bus stops in Auckland, it was hardly likely but worth a shot. We annoyed the driver of this number 256 bus and hopped on board and asked him where to go.
He told us we needed the bus number 769 from Commerce Street and with that disappeared. So to recap. We were stranded in Victoria Street holding a map, heading towards Commerce Street. The driver was certainly not very helpful, unlike this op [;)].
Tut tut, maybe I shouldn’t have made that comment but there you go, it’s done now. So we get out our endless resources and try and track down Commerce Street. A twenty-minute trek and… we are nowhere near. Time to annoy another driver.
Annoying Etheridges…
We hop on to another bus, number not noted this time but the driver was of the most useful sort. He poked at our map and located Commerce Street for us, showed us the route the bus would take, the frequency of the service and showed us how to get to the Street.
He confirmed the number of bus that we would need and ensured that we knew what we were doing. With a renewed spring in our step we were on our way to the stop. OK, maybe it wasn’t that exciting, but please, I have a word quota to fill here…
The long walk to Commerce Street…
We followed the pointed route carefully and sure enough landed up in Commerce Street. And all was perfectly timed. At the stop waiting was bus number 769. The clan promptly boarded the bus but first noticed a few things.
[1] The bus drivers were rather inconsiderate and nasty. A guy had missed his people carrier and was waving like a mad-man, but was made to run a marathon by the driver of the vehicle before the bus finally pulled over and the passenger was given some evils.
[2] Hmm… a nice point to make… ah yes, the signs at the stop were very clear – the timetables were simple to understand and read and were well presented although not too well maintained. It was noted that on several signs the words ‘Bus Stop’ had become ‘Pus Pop…’
[3] The bus was well parked. Although there was no special lay-by, although generally there are in NZ, the traffic was flowing easily around it and the vehicle was not causing any massive chaos or a build up of cars. In fact, the fire brigade came by and had no probs.
[4] Finding our bus was no trouble. There were large illuminated signs over the front window, which pointed out the number of the route and the stops it would be making, as well as the terminus. There was also another illuminated sign by the door.
Yes, that indeed was drama of the day. ‘Fire near Bus Stop.’ Anyway, where was I before one of my wicked ramblings? Ah, yes, the clan promptly boarded the bus, all three of us today for some had been dumped at Eden ParkCricket/Rugby Ground.
Getting Comfy…
The clan dumped their bums on their seats. Today it was me along with my two eldest. We sat down and for the mere price of NZ$5.20, which is about £2, all three of us could make the fifteen-minute journey. Not a bad sum.
The driver, again, was very friendly and agreed that he would tell us when to disembark from the bus since we did not know our surroundings or our stop, and this he did, but before we get off the bus, let’s take a look at the journey.
Time on 769…
The first thing you see as you enter through the door of the machine is that it can ‘kneel on request,’ that is it can be lowered down for disabled passengers as the suspension performs some clever trick. This means that the bus is at ground level to allow wheelchair use – very cunning.
I also saw that the driver had a very comfy chair but the payment machine that printed our ticket looked rather old and unstable, but I guess it did its job as sure enough, it dished out the tickets and gobbled up the cash for them.
The bus started moving and my point about the ticket machine was proven right. It very annoyingly started rattling and shaking as we went over bumps in the road. It was driving me crazy. But I would only have to put up with it for 15 mins, I told myself.
Back to the Floor…
I glanced toward the ground of the bus which did, admittedly, look somewhat more than soiled but the bus was rather busy so I suppose that is really inevitable. The blue surface was rather covered in muck but it did look as though it was regularly cleaned.
But perhaps the reason for this is the lack of a bin. There was no container for our rubbish, not in sight, anyway, so that might be an investment for the future. I wasn’t too impressed by either the interior or exterior cleanliness of the vehicle. Sounds fussy, I know.
But the thing is, do you really want to be stuck in a dirty environment, surrounded by rubbish and the vehicle encrusted in muck? Anyway, I’m fussing, but I couldn’t help noticing there was some chewing gum stuck to the seat in front of me!
Safety Conscious?…
Even though there’s a huge road safety campaign going on here in New Zealand, with posters all over the place with harsh messages, the lack of seatbelts on the bus was noticed. There were notices in the bus about road safety, but those were aimed at the driver asking him to belt up.
The door on the bus didn’t look too stable, either. But when the door opened as the driver was leaving the stop he did brake and close the door again. But perhaps some door maintenance is in order to ensure ultimate passenger safety.
…and yuck, that design on the seats MUST have distracted the driver…
Moving On…
Well it seems all I’m doing is whine, but I suppose it’s time for some praise because it wasn’t ALL bad… The service was swift and arrived on time, and buses depart regularly – around every 15 minutes on this service. Let’s have another look.
The bus drove along and sure enough arrived on time at the stop it was due at, and the driver, as promised, prompted us to get off at our stop and we disembarked promptly. And in to the aquarium we headed to have a sniff round.
The Return Journey…
We enjoyed our time at the aquarium but now it was time to head back to town. So we moved along to the bus stop just as it started to rain - :( - isn’t it supposed to be sunny here? Anyway, we sat in the bus stop. I made some mental notes for the op – very sad.
The bus stop was well constructed and very comfy. The item was basically a box with half of the wall facing the road removed, but still it didn’t manage to keep all of the wind out. But it was well maintained, however, the lack of a timetable was noted.
The windows were clean and the place was well looked after, and you could clearly see out round the corner and know when the next bus was coming. There was a bench which was clean and comfortable – a very enjoyable wait even though rather cold…
We boarded the bus and this time it was fine – much cleaner – a bin was in sight although the driver was rather moody. But we arrived at the DownTown shopping centre as the electronic bus front sign promised. A comfortable journey.
Other Stagecoach Services…
Stagecoach’s spiritual home is northern England where I believe they operate countless services, however, they have operations throughout the world. They run buses here in New Zealand, some airports in America, they run South West Trains in the UK, too.
If you really are insane enough to want to know more about the Stagecoach services, then have a poke around their website on www.stagecoach.com, or you could have a look at their New Zealand site, which I did, at www.stagecoach.co.nz.
A look at the rest…
I suppose it will be fair to just take a look at the UK Stagecoach operations, and perhaps have a brief comparison between the services to give you an idea of what the service is like over here. It has to be said that their service here is better than that of the UK!
[South West Trains] The largest network in the country, this company dominates most of Waterloo and has networks spanning all of southern England. The service is improving although the network is a goldmine for antique trains and delay enthusiasts.
[Stagecoach Buses] The bus services are good enough although some of the vehicles are up for replacement. Admittedly, I don’t travel on a Stagecoach bus all that often but I haven’t experienced any delays or major problems to warn of.
[Electric Bus Wellington] An ageing fleet of electronic buses, powered by overhead wires, is operated in Wellington. Although I did not have the pleasure of a ride on one of these, they looked rather old but well looked-after from the outside.
Summary…
If you’re in Wellington or Auckland, the buses are the best way to get around. They are cheap, sometimes clean, frequent, on time and generally a good service. Cheaper than a taxi, they are often more comfortable and much easier to get hold of.
The bottom line? Recommended much more over their UK counterparts, but then again the UK has a transport crisis. Trains are few in New Zealand so if you want to get around it’s by bus or taxi. And the buses are much cheaper.
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Advantages: They're not as bad as you think, fairly reliable, usually works Disadvantages: Some surly drivers, buses are powered by apathy and half-assedness
Mar 30th, 2002
very helpful by (98%):
helpful by (2%):
