Press room
Fans are describing Auckland Transport’s plans to help them get to and from Elton John’s concerts in the supercity this weekend as a fiasco, as tonight’s concert has now been canceled due to weather.
Two concerts were scheduled at Mt Smart Stadium before tonight’s concert was canceled due to torrential rains that have ravaged the city for several hours.
However, less than 30 minutes before Elton John was due to take the stage at Mt Smart stadium, organizers pulled the pin on his concert.
Auckland Transport tweeted that tonight’s show had been canceled due to weather, saying the operations team were working to divert special event buses to take people home from Mt Smart stadium.
Frontier Touring publicist Maria Robinson said about 11,000 people were already at the soggy venue when the announcement was made, with an expected crowd of 30,000.
The organizers said they were waiting to see what the weather would be like tomorrow before deciding whether the concert could go ahead on Saturday night.
Prior to the cancellation announcement, there had been a storm over AT’s advice that “driving is recommended” – complete with parking instructions despite being the agency’s core purpose of promoting public transportation.
The move has been heavily criticized by councilors for what appears to be a serious lack of organisation.
Adding to the difficulties concertgoers face is the closure of a major train station and no train services at all in the city on Saturday for Elton John’s second show following a decision by KiwiRail to close the lines for maintenance.
Auckland Councilor Richard Hills said it was very frustrating and embarrassing for both Aucklanders and those from out of town who attended the concert.
“Everything from communication to planning to pushing the wheelbarrow to get as much public transportation as possible feels like a big swing and a big miss.”
He said Auckland Transport was not incompetent.
Over the last 10 years things had improved and he had been supportive of his efforts, but lately it seemed like AT had too much to do and got overwhelmed. It risked turning people off public transport because they lost confidence in it.
The line closures were frustrating and the work that needs to be done should have been done years ago.
For the Elton John concert yesterday, a Facebook post had advised fans to drive when in fact there were 80 buses available to transport fans continuously from the CBD to Mt Smart Stadium.
“People are very confused about what’s actually available.”
It had taken until this afternoon for the social media post to be corrected and the full list of options explained, including a train and shuttle buses plus the 80 buses that run constantly from the central city.
“There’s no excuse for it. It’s utterly frustrating and embarrassing.”
Hills also felt that KiwiRail should have cooperated and done the maintenance at 3am rather than the time trains were needed for Saturday night’s concert.
“People – on top of the rain – are going to have a pretty horrible night trying to figure out how to get to and from the stadium.”
With the FIFA Women’s World Cup on the agenda later this year, he was keen to sit down with all relevant organizations to ensure there was no repeat of this weekend’s mess.
We were wrong’ – AT
Darek Koper, manager of the Auckland Transport group of metro services, said it was disappointing that people could not use the trains this weekend. The trains were “the backbone” of special events, but with KiwiRail lines closed for both line and general maintenance the option was not available.
For tonight’s concert, some trains ran to Ĺtahuhu and from there shuttle buses were available to transport concertgoers who also had the option of using buses running every 10 minutes from the CBD.
There were different arrangements for today’s and Saturday’s concerts, he said.
When asked if he was embarrassed by AT’s main recommendation that Elton John fans should drive to the concerts, he said he was.
The core message about event transport, including the train and replacement buses, was missing from the original travel advice.
“We were wrong… It goes against what my role is and what we do as an organization, but unfortunately it was a mistake, it was a mistake in providing incomplete information for which we apologise.”
There were negotiations with KiwiRail, but they could not postpone the maintenance, he said.
Koper agreed that the bus capacity would not be sufficient for the number of people who could have traveled by train. About 70 can fit in a bus, while a train can carry about 300 people.
Asked how much trust people can have in Auckland Transport, he said the organization was doing its best, but that KiwiRail also had a role to play in making resources available at times like the Elton John concerts.
“Unfortunately, we have limited resources. We are currently experiencing an extreme shortage of bus drivers, which limits our alternative bus options, which is why we have quite a challenging situation today.”