Auckland City has embarked on a wide spread programme to improve passenger transport infrastructure under its direct control. The ‘Buses First’ programme was a substantial initiative aimed at ensuring that road infrastructure was improved so that bus travel would be an attractive alternative to use of the private car. A network of bus priority lanes with features such as traffic signal pre-emption and bus advance (signals with a B phase) was developed and implementation commenced during 1998. Auckland City now benefits from dedicated bus lanes on most regional arterials feeding the CBD. These improvements, combined with service improvement agreements with bus operators have now lifted patronage to the point where almost 40 per cent of peak hour journeys into the CBD are by passenger transport. This paper describes the Buses First programme in Auckland, how it is contributing to the development of the sustainable land transport network and the effects on the overall usage of the transport network within the Auckland Region. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E212706.
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