Jericho Rock Archer / Stuff
With a huge turnout in Wellington for the Matariki fireworks, public transport was stretched thin.
Public transport was stretched to its limits for Matariki celebrations on Friday night, with many people stranded as packed services left without them – despite Metlink’s promises to improve its service for the new holiday.
At least 100,000 people flocked to Wellington’s waterfront Friday night for the Matariki fireworks and surrounding festivities, many of them using public transport to get into the city.
But coming home again turned out to be a nightmare for many.
Brian Andrews and his family took the train to Wellington from Waikanae and planned to go home at 10:14 PM.
Despite arriving early, the two-car train was packed to the brim, as was an overflow bus service offered by Metlink.
That meant he and his children, along with many others, spent an extra hour staring at the stars from a cold Wellington train station.
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“There were only two carriages on the train and they were filled to the brim,” Andrews said. “There weren’t enough buses either.
“There was one overflow bus, but it was also packed. Some of the staff left to see if there were other buses but came back about 20 minutes later saying we had to wait for the next train,” he said.
“So you ended up with children, the elderly, all out in the cold at the train station, waiting an hour for the next train.”
Monique Ford/Stuff
Metlink asked to use larger buses on Friday evening, but capacity was still maxed out.
Metlink’s general manager, Samantha Gain, said a lot of planning has been done for the holiday services.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that some people had a hard time getting to and from Wellington City to see the Matariki fireworks celebration, and we’re sorry if transportation issues affected their enjoyment of the evening,” Gain said.
“This was the first Matariki celebration, so it was difficult for all the authorities involved to properly assess the public demand. Metlink responded by making as many of its services available as possible.”
Between 3:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., additional carriages were added to dozens of train services, but supplies were limited outside those times, she said.
Monique Ford/Stuff
Buses were full on Matariki night.
In total, nearly 19,000 additional places were added to public transport capacity during the day, and more than 10,000 after the Matariki fireworks ended, she said.
Bus services in the city were also under severe pressure, with hundreds of people experiencing delays in leaving the city for the suburbs.
People who tried to take buses to the southern suburbs also noted that buses – many of them single-deck – were full before even reaching the end of Courtenay Place and did not stop to take more passengers.
Dozens of people, including the elderly, were seen walking through the Basin Reserve as they tried to get home.
Gain admitted the availability of bus services was “more limited” than train services.
“We operate in a challenging environment with Covid, seasonal illness and an underlying bus driver shortage affecting our ability to provide additional services,” said Gain.
“As a result, our bus operators did not have enough drivers to offer additional services. To do our best for passengers, we asked our operators to allocate the largest buses they could to the timetable to give the maximum possible capacity.”
Despite that request, many single-decker buses remained in service and were unable to add passengers while traveling through, for example, Courtenay Place.
Gain said the frontline staff did a great job in challenging conditions, and Metlink aims to provide enough capacity to meet demand, especially for large events.