I have forwarded the email trail to you for information and heads up. Our councillor Prue Lamason is attending the
Petone Community Board this evening and the Jackson Street Bus Stop is likely to be raised. We have drafted some
information for Cllr Lamason and wanted to share with you so that there are no surprises.
Nga mihi
Emma Tonks (She/Her) Kaitaki‐a‐tīma| Manager, Bus & Ferry Assets
Greater Wellington Te Pane Matua Taiao 021 341 460 100 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington,6011
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gw.govt.nz
From: Fiona Abbott <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, 22 August 2022 4:32 pm
To: Emma Tonks <[email address]>
Subject: FW: Jackson St Petone ‐ bus stop change
FYI and for sharing
From: Samantha Gain <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, 22 August 2022 4:31 pm
To: Fiona Abbott <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Jackson St Petone ‐ bus stop change
Yes I think a hard copy is ok for her to share .. it is just facts after all?
Please can you share it with your HCC contacts to avoid any surprise from that quarter.
From: Fiona Abbott <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2022 4:27:58 PM
To: Samantha Gain <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Jackson St Petone ‐ bus stop change
I do wonder what they will then do with it? It is not really sanitised for comms and we never know where these
sorts of things will end up – particularly with the Eastbourne Community.
I will let you decide but perhaps we need to send it to Matt and also get Prue to put some caveats around what it
should be used for? It is election season after all!
From: Samantha Gain <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, 22 August 2022 3:55 pm
To: Fiona Abbott <[email address]>
Subject: Fwd: Jackson St Petone ‐ bus stop change
I don't see any problem with a copy being given to community board chair, do you?
From: Prue Lamason <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2022 2:59:11 PM
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To: Samantha Gain <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Jackson St Petone ‐ bus stop change
Is it okay if I print your email and give a copy to the Chair of the Petone Community Board?
Prue
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Samantha Gain <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2022 2:27:26 PM
To: Daran Ponter – Chair <[email address]>; Josh van Lier <[email address]>; Prue Lamason
<[email address]>; Ken Laban <[email address]>; Ros Connelly <[email address]>;
Roger Blakeley <[email address]>; Nigel Corry <[email address]>; Fiona Abbott
<[email address]>; Metlink Councillor Liaison <[email address]>
Subject: Jackson St Petone ‐ bus stop change
Kia Ora tatou
You will no doubt have seen a post from Chris Bishop over the weekend regarding the change to a bus stop on
Jackson Street. I wanted to take the opportunity to explain the wider context and then specifically Jackson Street.
We have thousands of bus stops around the region and these require road markings and some sort of traffic
resolution to change. Both markings and resolutions are in the hands of the local TAs. Many of these stops need to
be changed for the following reasons:
1. The placement of the stop is wrong – we have a policy to have a stop every 400m. Meeting this policy can
be challenging with the existing placement
2. The size of the stop is too small. Whist we can apply discretion with bus stop dimensions, the NZTA
guidance requires an entry taper of 15m, a bus stop box 15m and an exit taper of 9m which allows our
vehicles to pull off the road properly and re‐enter traffic safely. If the bus stop is not big enough, and there
are car parks either side, then the bus cannot pull into the kerb and stays in the road and obstructs traffic
3. The bus needs to be able to pull into the kerb and ‘kneel’ for our accessibility passengers. Our accessibility
charter is clear regarding our intent and the bus stops need to be able to facilitate this. Currently, a large
number do not.
4. A safety issue. Our operators often raise these and we need to assess them in terms of impact and
frequency. The main issue we face with respect to safety are obstructions in and around the stop that, if
collected hard enough or frequently, can put our passengers and bystanders at significant risk. Many of
these types of concerns relate to shop canopies, where repeat strikes weaken the structure and render
them extremely vulnerable to collapse. In these cases, if we assess the risk as significant, we work with the
TA to create a temporary change to mitigate the risk whilst we go through the formal Traffic Resolution
process. This type of change can, and should, be done quickly and only directly affected stakeholders are
notified.
All changes above, where permanent, need formal consultation and a traffic resolution – from the relevant TAs. We
have a robust process for such consultation, working with the TAs, and continue to tweak it as required where we
identify improvements. We also have plans that are shared with each of the TAs that identify the changes we want
to make. This process is a collective one between Metlink and the TAs as the TAs own the roads and all of the
associated data.
Before I explain Petone, I would point out that the changes driven by 1‐3 above are often stopped when we need to
remove car parks. We work closely with the TA Officers and local communities to socialise, consult, and obtain buy
in to the change. However, we are often not able to actually implement the changes if there are dissenters in the
community. Whether it goes ahead is entirely up to the local TA (via the traffic resolution process) and their
appetite to override the dissenters. This does mean that progress on our accessibility charter for our bus network
will remain challenging and our bus fleet will, in some areas, continue to impede traffic or stop in places that do not
result in the most efficient running.
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Now to Petone. This change was implemented as a result of 4 above – a safety issue. The offending hazard was a
canopy at the site of the previous stop that has been struck a number of times over the last 2 years. We have
identified this as an area for a planned kerb build out, to avoid buses striking the canopy. However, we became
aware in the last 1‐2 weeks that there have been more recent and multiple hits to the canopy. As such, we deemed
it to be a significant safety risk and needed to relocate it using the emergency provisions until we can complete the
kerb change. In accordance with our usual process, we sent out a notification to the businesses affected on 17
August and followed up by speaking directly with the owners of the businesses. We notified HCC of our intention to
move the sign on Monday (today) as our contractor could not move it earlier. However, their road marking
contractor made the changes earlier so the implementation of the road marking change and the signage change did
not coincide.
HCC was fully aware of this issue and the change. Chris Bishop did not ask any questions or reach out to us prior to
posting this on Facebook (despite having been in a meeting with Fiona earlier in the week, where carpark impacts
were discussed, and having her contact details) so unfortunately we could do very little once he posted.
We will contact HCC officers to review what has happened here and confirm that all parties followed the correct
processes.
Please feel free to contact me or Fiona if you need anything further.
Ngā mihi
Sam
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