Fans embrace public transport

From City Scene, published on 26 July, 2009.

Public transport huge success: Fans made about 9000 journeys by rail and approximately 5000 trips on special bus services.

Auckland City Council and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) were encouraged by the number of rugby fans using public transport to get to last Saturday's Bledisloe Cup match.

Despite adverse weather and Eden Park's reduced capacity of 32,000 due to the stadium's redevelopment, fans made about 9000 journeys by rail and approximately 5000 trips on special bus services.

The game provided an opportunity to test transport initiatives in the lead up to Rugby World Cup 2011.

Successful new initiatives included:

closing Sandringham Road between New North Road and Rossmay Terrace
moving the midtown bus stop to New North Road, instead of Sandringham Road
creating coach parking locations nearer the ground
closing roads around the park, including Walters Road, and Cricket and Reimers avenues.

Before the end of the year, ARTA will begin to upgrade Kingsland train station to improve pedestrian traffic, especially after matches. This includes building a new underpass from the station under Sandringham Road to help relieve this pressure point. They also say that during Rugby World Cup 2011 matches, trains heading back to the city will be loaded on both platforms, with westbound passengers leaving from Morningside station.

The council is also installing a link lane from Cricket Avenue to Sandringham Road, which will improve access for pedestrians heading to Kingsland town centre, midtown bus operations in New North Road, Ponsonby or the central city.