Improvements to Auckland's Bus Routes #3

This post aims to cover improvements to bus routes in the Midtown area.

I’ve done a lot of thinking, and you’ll see this come to life throughout the other posts, but I wanted to see how bus services in the Midtown area, which is around the Karangahape Road/Queen Street intersection and the Victoria Street/Queen Street Intersection. Especially with City Rail Link opening in 2026, it would be cool to see some impactful changes before the 2028 City Centre Terminus changes.

Wellesley Street is set to have brand new bus shelters and improved pedestrian facilities around the Te Waihorotiu station area. As well as the improvements to Victoria Street following the Te Ha Noa project completion. One of the many improvements I thought of primarily was the CityLink, and its Loop design.

The CityLink currently runs from Wynayrd Quarter on Auckland’s waterfront to Karangahape Road and back via Queen Street and Fanshawe Street. Even though the service frequency is amazing, around every 6-8 minutes, during peak travel the vehicles can be at full capacity running up Queen Street alone. Two big improvements to the CityLink could be completed.

First, change the route so that it could run up Hobson Street, serve the already established stops, turn into Victoria Street, then into Albert Street where it could serve the Te Waihorotiu Station (at a new Stop C on Mayoral Drive), along Mayoral Drive, into Vincent Street, into Pitt Street, serve Karangahape Station, into Karangahape Road, then it could run down Symonds Street, down Wakefield Street into Queen Street then down to Britomart and loop back to Wynayrd Quarter.

Secondly, there is an oppotunity to reintroduce a revenue earning tram service to replace the current CityLink buses, this would improve capacity to the service as well as getting us closer zero emissions targets, additionally, the council would be able to turn the Queen Street area between Mayoral Drive and Wellesley Street into a plaza area like Te Komititanga Square. This could open up a whole new space for the council to hold festivals and events, without needing to disrupt bus services as they will have been moved to the Mayoral Drive/Te Waihorotiu Station area.

As mentioned above, Queen Street between Mayoral Drive and Wellesley Street would become a pedestrian only space, which would mean the movement of buses away from that area. Currently, eight bus routes either terminate or begin service in this area, with another nine services that run through this area. So we would have to move all these services away.

For routes 30, 252, 253, 295, 309 and 309X (which 252, 253 terminate) which terminate and begin at Stop E The Civic would move to a new Stop E (with 252, 253 moving to the new Stop D) on Mayoral Drive. For routes 25B, 25L, 252, 253 (which 252, 253 begin) which terminate and begin at Aotea Square would move to a new Stop D on Mayoral Drive. For route CityLink it would take over the current Stop E The Civic, to be called Stop C The Civic.

For routes WX1, 11, 18, 105, 106, 195, 209, they would come down Queen Street, left into Mayoral Drive, right into Mayoral Drive, serve a new Stop A on Mayoral Drive, then Albert Street and serve new bus stops down Albert Street, terminating at Stop B Lower Albert Interchange, bringing customers closer to Downtown than previously.

Routes running down Wellesley Street include: 22, 24, OUT, 75, 82, 101, NX2, 802, 923, 924. Wellesley Street is the main corridor to Victoria Park and Victoria Street, as well as to the Auckland Universities. Here is a map created to visualise all these proposed changes: Improvements to Midtown Routes Map.

The main change would be to move routes 22 and 24, to run down Wakefield Street, into Mayoral Drive, to Te Waihorotiu Station, and back into Wellesley Street to Victoria Street. Following terminating, 22 and 24 continue along Victoria Street West, into Albert Street, into Wellesley Street and then continue as currently. Routes OUT, 75 and 101 will continue on Wellesley Street with a modified stopping pattern, and the same will go for the Northern routes, 82, NX2, 802, 923, 924.

Please share your opinions, objections, or alternate solutions below!