Auckland bus users urged to plan ahead due to driver strike from Monday Auckland bus users urged to plan ahead due to driver strike from Monday

Date: 9 July 2023

Auckland bus users are being urged to use AT's Journey Planner and consider when they travel on Monday morning due to short notice industrial action which is expected to affect up to 700 morning bus trips.

The bus trips affected are all on routes operated by NZ Bus, are concentrated in the morning including peak commuting times, and will mostly affect services on the Auckland isthmus.

Auckland Transport's Executive General Manager Public Transport Services Stacey van der Putten says AT has been informed that NZ Bus and union representatives have agreed to enter mediation on Monday morning.

"It is deeply disappointing Auckland's bus users will have their morning travel disrupted by this industrial action at a time when the reliability of services and our passenger numbers have been improving," Ms van der Putten says.

"Tomorrow's industrial action has the potential to disrupt tens of thousands of Aucklanders and we appreciate how deeply frustrating this is for our customers who have been incredibly patient over the past year while we worked to overcome the driver shortage.

"We're urging our bus passengers to use the AT Mobile App or Journey Planner before they travel tomorrow morning to find out whether their usual bus trip is affected and to see options for alternative services they can travel on."

It is believed the current offer tabled by NZ Bus would see the company's Auckland drivers paid above the industry standard, and higher than the $30 per hour average wage which we are aiming to achieve this year for AT-contracted services.

"Auckland Transport strongly believes that bus drivers should receive a fair wage, which is why we have worked proactively to bring the industry together in recent years to support improvements to driver wages and conditions," Ms van der Putten says.

"Our teams have also worked to source significant additional funding from both Auckland Council and the Government which has meant Auckland's bus drivers have received a number of meaningful increases to their wages.

"I hope that the unions and NZ Bus are able to quickly resolve this dispute tomorrow so that tens of thousands of Aucklanders aren't unnecessarily inconvenienced this week over issues which could have been dealt with in mediation."