This is something I’m finding a little frustrating this month.

Because I’m working as a contractor, I’m sometimes at sites all day, sometimes called out, sometimes working from home, sometimes getting supplies, or like today, sometimes attending presentations or seminars, so I’m using a lot of off-peak services to random destinations. I’m trying to use Auckland’s buses and trains as urban transit.

And it’s the transfers between buses that pass close to home (233, 241, 243, 008) and would connect me to the rail RTN that are proving a big letdown.

I’m near Owairaka Ave. From there there’s route 008 that is a quick connection to Avondale, except it seems to almost always arrive at the station just after the train leaves.

In the peak, half the Owairaka+Sandringham Rd buses express past Kingsland and refuse to stop, and off-peak there’s only two minutes between the scheduled times of the 233 and the train to town.

I’ve had to draw up my own mini-timetable for services between home and the rail line, showing when and where the transfers work and don’t.

The other serious barrier to this kind of integration is ticketing. If it weren’t for my rather expensive Discovery Monthly, I’d have to pay extra for each transfer in the form of a new ticket.

Tonight I’m attending a seminar entitled Why is Public Transport in Auckland so Bad and What Could Fix It? – details here. I’m looking forward to it and hope it will cover this in some detail.

If I’m going to successfully get around like this next month, I’m going to have to get freshened up on how it works, what the ‘arterials’ are, and figure out a few tricks along the way.

It looks to be pretty complicated.

For a start, despite a few recent changes (and many future talked about ones), bus and rail still operates pretty much separately. There are few obvious integration points, so those doing more complex trips have to ‘make up their own’ – they must figure out where the present useful crossover points happen to be by coincidence.

Fortunately the Monthly Discovery pass I’ll have for November will mean it will be easier for me to transfer than it is for most people. There is no such thing as an integrated “A” zone pass for the Auckland City area, for example. The otherwise excellent Northern Pass is regionally limited to North Shore trips, with a slight rail extension. A shame really, as the Northern Pass model (based, I believe, on Melbourne’s excellent Metlink fare structure, if not their tickets) would have made a really good interim integrated ticket for Auckland, while we wait for the smartcard system (which is another story).

My local ‘entry point’ on to the rail network is Kingsland station. Kingsland consists of bus stops on Sandringham and New North Roads, with a pretty good station inbetween.

However studying the timetables for the train and connecting Sandringham Rd services reveals that connections are rather poor, and require advance planning.

Sandringham Rd services during the peak consist of many express services that pass, but do not stop at, Kingsland. This could be so easily fixed by recognising the station as a “local interchange” and having all bus services that pass the station, stop there.

This would allow passengers to switch modes here so train commuters can switch to the bus to better access Symonds St, including the university, and allow bus commuters easier access to Newmarket and the lower CBD by way of Britomart.

Instead, I’ve had to collate the existing schedules to draw up my own ‘timetable’ showing optimal connection points for each bus. I will keep that in my wallet.

For other interchanges (or not), I’ll work them out as the need arises to go to different parts of the city.

I’ll be using a combination of the MAXX regional guides and timetables, along with their online journey palnner. I’ve learnt not to rely on the journey planner alone, as sometimes it suggests some way-too-tight connections and not-so-nice walks.