15 June 2023
File Ref: OIAPR-1274023063-2589
No name provided
By email: [FYI request #22826 email]
Tēnā koe
Request for information 2023-129
I refer to your request for information dated 17 May 2023, which was received by Greater
Wel ington Regional Council (Greater Wel ington) on 17 May 2023. You have requested the
fol owing:
“- Number of times the number 39 bus has been cancel ed since 1 January 2023. Please also specify
at what time schedules those buses were cancel ed for.
- Number of times the number 39 bus has "no-showed" since 1 January 2023, ie. Shown as
uncancel ed by Metlink in it's public media applications, but never actual y running. Please also
specify at what time schedules those buses "no-showed" for.
- Number of complaints logged about the number 39 bus since 1 January 2023, and the nature of
those complaints.
- Internal correspondence about what is being done to al eviate cancel ations or issues with the
number 39 bus since 1 January 2023.
- Information about why the number 39 bus has had it's afternoon services reduced to two services,
instead of four.
- Correspondence between Metlink and your office about ongoing issues with bus performance. I
am particularly interested in correspondence which references the number 39 bus (you may be
seeing a pattern, here).”
Wel ington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wel ington 6142
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]
Greater Wel ington’s response fol ows:
1. Number of cancel ations for Route 39 bus since 1 January 2023, and the number of times the
Route 39 bus has ‘no showed’ since 1 January 2023
Please refer to Attachment 1 which contains a spreadsheet of the cancel ations for the route 39 bus
from 1 January 2023 – 15 May 2023. The attachment also contains a table of the untracked trips that
were not cancel ed by the Operator since 1 January 2023. This table shows when a trip was not
recorded. This could be for several reasons which may include equipment failure, GPS drift, driver
error, or a trip that was planned to run, which may or may not have run, was not tripped on correctly
to update the systems.
2. Number of complaints for the route 39, and the nature of these complaints, since 1 January
2023
A search was completed on our internal complaints system, which returned a total of 56 complaints
for Route 39 since 1 January 2023.
The complaints are logged under sub-codes which represent the general nature of the complaint.
The sub-codes used for these complaints include:
Cancel ed services
Capacity issue
Display and Audio issue
Driving issue
Failed to appear
Failed to pick up
On board display
On board temperature
Ran late
Real Time Information
Timetable changes
Website
The majority of the complaints relate to cancel ation and capacity issues including the reduction in
service capacity from four buses to two buses.
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3. Information on the service reduction on Route 39
In September 2022, to improve customer certainty around service cancel ations, we requested our
operators, NZ Bus and Tranzurban, to identify several driver duties where al trips contained within
each driver duty could be temporarily cancel ed until the driver shortage situation improved. This
had the objective of reducing the number of drivers needed to cover the service and reduce the
number of short notice service cancel ations.
Both NZ Bus and Tranzurban identified a list of driver duties that they could temporarily suspend.
The affected trips contained within the suggested duties were checked to ensure equity across the
network, preserve school services, and avoid removing consecutive services where possible. This
process was implemented to improve customer certainty around service cancel ations.
On 16 October 2022, NZ Bus applied 67 weekday service suspensions across 15 routes. This removed
approximately 10 NZ Bus driver duties. On 20 November 2022, Tranzurban suspended 44 Wel ington
City weekday trips and several weekend trips, across 7 routes, resulting in the removal of
approximately 8 driver duties. Consequently, two of the four afternoon services from Wel ington
Station to Island Bay Shops (5.08pm and 5.38pm) were suspended, excluding over the school
holidays. The four inbound morning peak services remained unchanged and the afternoon 4.08pm
and 4.38pm trips commencing from Wel ington Station were retained. However, the continuation
of short notice trip cancel ations has resulted in some of these services being cancel ed on some
days.
4. Internal correspondence regarding cancel ations and performance of the Route 39 bus since
1 January 2023
We completed a search of our internal systems for information relating to cancel ations and
performance of the Route 39 bus since 1 January 2023. This information can be found in Attachment
2 and Attachment 3.
Attachment 3 is an attachment to one of the parts of correspondence in Attachment 2 and is a large
file; this is why it is sent separately.
Information that is out of scope of your request has been deleted in these attachments.
We have withheld information under section 7(2)(a) of the Local Government Official Information
and Meetings Act 1987 (the Act), in order to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of
deceased natural persons.
These attachments have been annotated with the reason for the deletion or withholding of the
information.
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We have considered whether the public interest in the requested information outweighs Greater
Wel ington’s need to withhold certain aspects of the requested information. As a result, we do not
consider that the public interest outweighs Greater Wel ington’s reason for withholding parts of the
document under the grounds identified above.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to request
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Act.
It is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information requests where possible.
Our response to your request wil be published shortly on Greater Wel ington’s website with your
personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Fiona Abbott
Kaiwhakahaere Matua Waka-ā-atea | Acting Group Manager Metlink
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