Buses could be running in dedicated peak hour lanes along Wellington’s waterfront by late 2027 after Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Public Transport Committee endorsed the business case for an $11 million second bus corridor through the central city on Thursday 10 September.
The Harbour Quays project would send some buses along Customhouse Quay, Jervois Quay, Cable Street and Wakefield Street instead of the Golden Mile, the run of streets from Lambton Quay through Willis and Manners Streets to Courtenay Place that serves as the city’s main bus corridor. Part-time bus lanes would operate during the weekday peaks, nominally 6.30am to 9.30am and 3.30pm to 6.30pm, according to the committee’s order paper.
The decision is not final. Wellington City Council, which controls the roads, is due to consider the business case and the traffic resolutions for the new bus lanes and stops on 17 September. If both councils agree, construction would start in March or April 2027.
The business case, attached to the 182-page order paper, sets out why the regional council wants a second route. International literature suggests a bus lane works best carrying 50 to 80 buses an hour, it says, but the Golden Mile already carries 79 to 99 buses per lane per hour at peak, a number forecast to climb to between 126 and 137 by 2034. The current operational speed for buses there is 8km/h, against a typical minimum acceptable speed of 14km/h for a busy city centre.
Without a second corridor, the document projects Golden Mile bus speeds falling to between 3 and 6km/h. At that point a bus trip down its length would take about 28 minutes, which the business case says would be slower than walking from Courtenay Place to the railway station.
In the first phase, about 30 buses an hour would run each way along the quays at peak times, made up of express services, the buses that currently use Brandon Street, and an all-day service along the harbour side. The business case estimates up to 23 percent of evening peak patronage, and 12 percent of weekly patronage, would move to the new route. It expects bus travel times through the central city to improve by up to 7 minutes on the Harbour Quays and up to 2 minutes on the Golden Mile.
Committee chair Ros Connelly said the decision reflected years of planning on a joint project between the two councils. “The Golden Mile is already operating at capacity during peak periods, and this project provides an important second corridor that will help buses move more efficiently through the city centre,” she said in a statement released on 11 September.
Deputy chair Tom James said the project was an investment in the future of public transport in Wellington. “This project will mean quicker bus trips for all buses through the city, plus it will finally give people the choice to take public transport to key destinations like Te Papa, TΔkina, and our unbeatable-on-a-good-day waterfront.”
The business case also sets out the trade-offs. Faster bus trips are expected to be offset for some passengers by longer walks to stops on the quays and more exposure to the weather, while people who work along Customhouse and Jervois Quays would have shorter walks. Traffic travel times on the quays during the weekday morning and evening peaks are expected to increase by about 80 seconds on average. There are no dedicated bike lanes, but people on bikes will be able to share the bus lanes while they operate.
The economic case reflects that balance. Over 40 years, in present value terms, it counts $114.5 million in time savings for bus passengers, offset by $104 million in extra travel time for people in cars. It puts the project’s benefit cost ratio at 1.2 over 40 years and 1.7 over 60 years, the timeframe NZTA uses for its Roads of National Significance. A ratio above 1 means the benefits are expected to outweigh the costs. The ratio rises to 6.1 if NZTA’s planned State Highway 1 improvements through Wellington go ahead, and the document says counting the benefit of fewer buses delaying one another on the Golden Mile, which was left out to stay conservative, would lift it to 4.0 even without them.
About 40 car parks would be removed, spread across 1.2 kilometres of road. The business case expects no loss of parking revenue because paid occupancy in the affected zones is under 50 percent, and it estimates there are 890 off-street short-stay car parks next to the corridor.
Of the 905 submissions received during consultation in May and June, about 53 percent supported the proposal, the order paper says. Key themes included general support, concern about the effect on traffic, and a view that Wellington City Council should focus on other things.
Not everyone at the city council is convinced. Before Thursday’s meeting, Wellington city councillors Diane Calvert, Andrea Compton and Karl Tiefenbacher were planning to address the regional council to oppose the changes, Wellington.Scoop reported. They pointed to the city council’s decision to stop the earlier Golden Mile upgrade and said the population and bus patronage growth originally expected had not happened. “Harbour Quays was designed for a different set of circumstances. Before committing public money and permanently reallocating scarce road space, we need to be confident it is still the right priority for Wellington,” the three councillors said.
Four regional councillors voted against endorsing the business case, Wellington.Scoop reported. Connelly said councillors also agreed to further recommendations “to consider options to improve the experience for passengers transferring between Golden Mile and Harbour Quays services and to support Wellington City Council to address concerns about connectivity and safety.”
The project is a scaled-back version of an earlier plan. It was originally funded at $51.6 million as part of the former Let’s Get Wellington Moving city streets package, on the assumption it would attract a 51 percent subsidy from the National Land Transport Fund. The current version was approved in both councils’ long-term plans with no NZTA funding. The order paper says officers have discussed possible co-funding for construction with NZTA, but the agency has been unwilling to commit until the business case is approved.
The recommended budget rises from $10 million to $11 million, with Greater Wellington contributing $5.84 million, including the full cost of six new bus shelters, and Wellington City Council $5.19 million. Greater Wellington will confirm early next year which routes will run on the quays, and the Metlink project page has more detail on the proposed corridor.
Would a second bus route along the waterfront make your trip through Wellington easier, or should the money go elsewhere? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
Leave a Reply