Links Ave Timeline
8 November Trial started. Cul de Sac installed and monitoring cameras
8 November Gridlock in Oceanbeach & Golf Rds
Residents put up protest signs.
Online Survey at www.taurangacommunityfeeedback.com/linksave starts
29 November PRRA hands in petition to council asking for immediate stop to trial and road reinstatement.
11 December — Road traffic counters installed on Oceanbeach Rd. 4 weeks into the trial. Why wait so long
Road traffic counters still not installed in Links Ave
Correspondence, Presentations & Letters
Letter to TCC re Trial
Letter to Brendan Bisley TCC Transport Director
Petition presented to TCC 25 November 2021
Presentation to TCC council meeting for Petition 13 December 2021
Letter to Sir Brian Roche Chair NZTA re bus lanes on B2B
Solution to Links Ave using B2B bus lanes sent to TCC NZTA BOPRC
How many people using buses in the morning Bus count 16 December 2021
Michael Dance · 22h ·
I thought it was time to bring some hard data to this cul-de-sac trial.
I’ve asked BOPRC for bus card data for the last couple of weeks but have had zero response.
So with no other option I stood on Links Ave this morning and counted buses and commuter passengers, since the local schools have finished for the year.
The results won’t be a surprise, but they are still shocking.
TCC say that 5,000 or 5,500 or 7,200 cars a day go down Links Ave, depending on which audience they are trying to hoodwink at the time.
Let’s say every 4th or 5th car has more than one person in it. That’s well over 10,000 people per day being forced to take the long way around Maunganui or Oceanbeach Roads.
Compare that with the 21 commuters I counted using the bus today from 7.30 to 8.45am travelling towards the city.
Yes, that’s right 21 people during the peak commuter time.
Across 10 buses.
That’s 2 people per bus on average.…No wonder the windows are tinted!
So this is not a bus lane, it’s a white elephant lane, and it is costing you and I the rates payer well over $20million a year to fund.
No wonder BOPRC won’t front up with the figures, they are simply appalling.
What leg does TCC or BOPRC have left to stand on? The cul-de-sac trial is meant to be about kids safety, yet they have kept the most dangerous road design imaginable still in place. The trial is meant to be factual and transparent yet road counters are sometimes there, sometimes not and rolled out at one of the quietest time of the year in terms of school traffic. $400k has been set aside for prior consultation, but there has been none, other than some poorly designed and one sided on-line survey to school parents and an invite only “community meeting” for which there was only 5 hours advance notice. And best of all, half the city has been asked to take longer travel times, pay for extra petrol for their journey, and place people using roads like Golf and Oceanbeach at increased risk….all so that 21 people can get to work on time in the morning.
Are you starting to see what a sham this whole thing is?
A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM. Sent to NZTA, TCC and BOPRC who all share responsibilty for buses in Tauranga
Links Ave & B2B Bus Lanes Tauranga December 2021
Summary
A very important public transport opportunity/problem has developed in the local Bayfair area and the B2B (Baypark to Bayfair) link is part of the solution.
Problem
Currently all local buses in this area are routed through Bayfair and use a “trial” bus lane that has been created on a typical 2 lane suburban street. (in effect 3 lanes on a former 2 lane road with a high volume of schoolchildren and cyclists). This is Links Ave and there is a school on the road.
Nowhere in the world is there a high frequency bus lane passing thru a residential area. A TCC commissioned Safety Report on the Bus Lane found there is a high potential of an incident between a bus and a schoolchild.
As a result, it looks like Tauranga City Council wishes to permanently cul de sac this road and currently has imposed a trial closure of the road. This is having huge negative impacts on local traffic flows, increased travel times, inconvenience, new safety issues on adjacent roads, increased carbon emissions, grid lock. A closure does not remove the bus v schoolchild clash potential.
The Safety Report suggests another solution – the removal of the bus lane.
The first priority for Links Ave is safety for the children. The second priority is amenity for the community. This can only be achieved by removal of the Bus Lanes.
As coastal Papamoa develops and spreads down the coast to Te Tumu and beyond, buses will provide the public transport from there to/from Tauranga. To be an effective and compelling option, the bus travel time needs to be similar to using your car. BOPRC/TCC have announced that express buses are the plan for the future.
However, these buses will be routed thru Links Ave or if they stay on the B2B then they will be slowed up by the stationary morning and afternoon peak traffic. Either option is a reduction in service levels and lengthening of bus travel times.
Solution
There is a solution which will overcome both of these problems and fits nicely with the current government thinking on public transport. This solution requires open minds.
The solution is to create separate bus lanes on the sides of the B2B from Baypark to Hewletts Rd and remove the need for buses to travel along Links Ave.
These are additional lanes. This will provide fast dependable trip times and give buses an equivalency with car travel times. (Think of the Northern Bus Expressway in Auckland as the concept). There are a couple of pinch points, but they are solvable with the right attitude.
These bus lanes would not use the overbridge at Bayfair but use the slip roads at the Bayfair rotary with bus stops on the slip roads. The Bayfair Underpass is the path for passengers to move between the bus stops and the Bayfair Shopping Centre.
Most buses do not need to go into Bayfair, Farm St or Links Ave. They can down the B2B. This may reduce the requirements for a bus interchange on Girven Rd at Bayfair.
The construction of the bus lanes can be a part of the existing B2B contract.
The idea of bus lanes on the B2B is not new, what is new is the rapid rate of development, coastal growth and overloading of the current roading system in peak morning and afternoon periods.
This idea has been presented in high level detail to Anne Tolley Commissioner Tauranga and to Andrew von Dadelszen BOPRC councillor last week.
A new solution is now needed to future proof the bus lanes, it needs new thinking and a willingness from the incumbents (TCC, WBOPRC and NZTA/Waka Kotari) to get out of their silos and work with the community.
We, the community are willing to meet to discuss this working as a team.
Yours sincerely
Philip Brown
Chair Papamoa Residents & Ratepayers Association E: chairprra@gmail.com
Petiton presented to the Tauranga City Council 25 November 2021
re: Links Avenue cul-de-sac trial
Attached is a petition requesting:-
(a) An immediate end to the cul-de-sac trial in Links Avenue.
(b) The end to any proposal to make any changes to the street layout of Links Avenue
(c) To consult properly with a committee of road users and residents to ascertain a more practical and sensible way of solving the problems that are perceived to exist.
We wish to have all traffic restrictions lifted within 48 hours after the council receives this letter and the barriers moved out of the way in a safe fashion as soon as possible.
This is necessary, even though a hearing may be a little way off yet, because the traffic disruption to Links Avenue and the alternate route along Oceanbeach Road is not only causing severe inconvenience but also has the potential to cause vehicle accidents and could endanger the lives of pedestrians who, as we all know, frequently cross the road with children to get to and from the beach. The advent of the Summer, season school holidays and visitors will bring about an increase in the volume of traffic and exacerbate the danger. This is not a frivolous request; there is real danger in this situation.
Brendan Bisley was reported in Tuesday's BOPT as having said that he would be interested in seeing the results of PRRA's survey. He was sent an interim copy of the comments on 12 November 2021. A final detailed copy of the results and comments will be made available as soon as we know that the council has accepted and will deal with the petition. The survey is still a live exercise and more results will be available by the time the hearing takes place.
The number of replies is approaching 1000 and of those about 97% are against the trial and any long term closure proposal. We expect, of course, a quid pro quo from Brendan, namely, full disclosure of the results of the council's survey and reports on consultation, and any research material that has been gathered.
Attached are 20 signatories to the Petition Application.
“The problem in Links Ave is the Bus Lane and only the removal of the Bus Lane will reduce the safety concerns as identified in the Safety Report”
Links Ave Trial Closure by Tauranga City Council
Support presentation to TCC to support the Petition.
Summary
The trial ‘cul de sac ing” closing of Links Ave has been imposed by Tauranga City Council with no consultation after a Safety Review identified a potential issue between school children and buses using the bus lane. We have also read this report and the report suggests another solution, which is removing the bus lane.
The bus lane was added to Links Ave in 2020 as a trial, overriding community objections. Never in any city has a major bus lane been run through a residential street. It was madness then and is still madness.
The Bus Lane is continuing during the trial closure. This trial, an imposition and affront to the community, has been a disaster to the community, longer travel times, major inconvenience, more stationary traffic and increased carbon emissions, new safety issues on Oceanbeach Rd.
All the while the ghost buses use the Links Ave bus lane and the community is inconvenienced. These buses are called ghost because most are empty.
Tauranga Community Feedback has run an online survey to gather the views of the community and over 1250 residents participated. This is an excellent response from very concerned and affected residents.
The summary of results from the survey are
Do you want Links Ave to be made into a Cul de Sac no 98% yes 2%
Do you think buses should have a dedicated bus lane in Links Ave No 63% yes 37%
Do you feel the bus lane should be totally removed Yes 67% No 33%
Would you support a barrier fence to separate buses and pedestrians Yes 62% No 38%
Links Ave is called links because that is what it does ---- it links It is not a street to be made into a cul de sac.
The first priority for Links Ave is safety for the children. The second priority is amenity for the community. This can only be achieved by removal of the Bus Lanes.
It has been said that the increased car numbers in Links Ave have caused the damage to the road. It is in fact the axle loads from the buses that are doing the damage. From Load Equivalency Factors, a 8 tonne axle load ( bus) does more than 3000 times the damage of a 1 tonne axle load (car) .
The bus lane in Links Ave is the problem, wrong place, wrong routes, unnecessary routing, too dangerous and currently too many ghost buses – nobody inside.
We agree,-- buses are part of the future transport solutions, on the right roads.
So where to ..
There is an opportunity to make additional bus lanes down Maunganui Rd along the B2B, from Baypark to Golf Rd. Think of the success of Auckland Northern Busway. These bus lanes is will easily link into the bus lane in Hewletts Rd. The future express bus traffic is coming from Te Tumu, Papamoa East, Te Puke and further out. Sending these buses down Links Ave is just plain stupid.
For years, forward thinking community members have been asking for these bus lanes along the B2B and the naysayers in the council staff, BOPRC and Waka Kotari have dominated and won. End result == No bus lanes.
But now is now. Tauranga needs these bus lanes. There is room for the bus lanes, a couple of pinch points but solvable. We fought to retain the underpass at Bayfair not only for pedestrian and cycle access but also to serve as a link between the buses stopping on the slip roads of the Bayfair Roundabout.
Most buses do not need to go into Bayfair, Farm St or Links Ave. Run the buses down the B2B. And this would allow us to cancel the expensive proposed bus interchange at Bayfair.
A new solution is at hand, it needs new thinking and a willingness from the incumbents (TCC, WBOPRC and Waka Kotari) to get out of their silos and work with the community. There is no NO, it is YES.
We look forward to the opportunities this petition presents. The community demands to be given a part to play in finding solutions to this problem. We want the council to agree to consult and collaborate with a selection of the residents and road users throughout the problem solving process. We are the people most affected by the decisions the council will be making about this matter!
I will be able to give you the names of our 5 people next week and we can work out a format for our collaboration, which I assure you will not take the form of interference.
Thankyou.
Appendix
Heavy trucks and buses are responsible for a majority of pavement damage. Considering that a typical automobile weighs between 2,000 and 7,000 lbs (curb weight), even a fully loaded large passenger van will only generate about 0.003 ESALs while a fully loaded tractor-semi trailer can generate up to about 3 ESALs (depending upon pavement type, structure and terminal serviceability).
