Auckland Transport spends $2.6 million to monitor transit lane with 99pc compliance

Caroline Williams Reporter from North Shore Times

Auckland Transport has been criticised for spending $2.6 million on cameras to stop people illegally using Onewa Rd's transit lane, which already had 99 per cent compliance.

The ratepayer-funded organisation recently installed 68 cameras along the road, at a cost of $2.6 million, to save its staff from having to manually enforce compliance with a camera on the side of the road, which put them at risk of being abused by angry motorists.

Auckland Transport was reviewing the way it manages all the region’s special vehicle lanes, and hoped the technology would increase efficiency to have the network operating as freely as possible.

But Kaipātiki Local Board member Paula Gillon​ said it was an “extraordinary” amount of money to spend on a road where the transit lane rules were adhered to by motorists 99 per cent of the time.

While it was likely the cameras would stop people from illegally using the transit lanes, Gillon believed congestion would get worse in the normal lane, as Auckland Transport had not put forward any alternative solutions.

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