Upgraded bus service.

At the start of May, the Northern Express Bus service was said to be upgraded and improved by Auckland Transport. There are more buses and the times have been extended too. The changes include:

• Buses will now leave Britomart at midnight on week nights
• Buses from Albany to Britomart will go until 2:30am on weekends and 11:30pm on weeknights.
• Services will start earlier in weekday mornings and the frequency will increase to one every three minutes from Albany between 7-8am on school days. It used to be every four to five minutes.
• Bus service from Britomart will increase too between 5pm-6pm except school holidays.
• The 5-minute Northern Express bus service will start earlier each afternoon at 3pm to lessen queues.
• The first bus of the day will leave at 5:30am instead of 5:45.
• Buses will run every 15 minutes from Albany at 6:30am, then it will be changed into every 5 minutes up until the three-minute service at 7am.

The changes were due to rising complaints about long queues and overcrowding of the Northern Express Bus service.

Source: New Zealand Herald.

The popular Northern Express bus service from the North Shore to the city.
Source: Google Images.

I have seen a difference in bus frequencies and the service has definitely improved. From the past weeks, I haven't experienced the long queue in Britomart that I usually end up in on Fridays. There are more buses available and they are not overcrowded with passengers. It's about time the service has caught up with the demand.