AT's systems for managing disruptions are largely manual, complex, and have resulted in long delays in telling passengers, a report found. Photo: RNZ / Ziming Li
The Deputy-Auditor General is urging Auckland Transport (AT) to do better in communicating unplanned transport disruptions to the public, and to improve its processes for managing disruptions.
A report published by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has found that AT's systems for identifying and managing disruptions are largely manual, complex, and have resulted in long delays for patrons to be informed.
It takes on average 22 minutes for AT to inform patrons about unplanned disruptions after an incident occurs, according to AT's data - and in one instance in 2023, a bus operator took three hours to notify AT's operations team that it had cancelled services on a route due to weather conditions.
There have also been multiple instances when children have been stranded due to school bus services not arriving on time, between 2021 and 2024, the report found.
The Deputy-Auditor General Andrew McConnell acknowledged that AT manages between 67 and 144 disruptions every day - including planned ones - across its high volume of services, but he stressed that the organisation had a responsibility to provide people with clear and accurate information.
"Frequent disruptions can undermine public confidence in the public transport system and people's willingness to use it," McConnell said.
Unplanned disruptions include bus delays, diversions due to traffic accidents, cancellations due to severe weather, breakdowns and mechanical issues.
McConnell said that while AT had a mobile app accessed by 300,000 people monthly, and 970 digital displays across 15 percent of its stops, the information on these portals were not always accurate.
Outdated technology and complex manual systems
The Deputy-Auditor General highlighted AT's problematic reliance on a largely manual system and outdated technology for managing disruptions.
He said this had limited AT's capacity to communicate unplanned disruptions out-of-hours, and to identify issues in a timely manner.
AT has a "disruption communication system map" which consultants have described as the most complex they have ever mapped.
Informing the public about an unplanned rail disruption could involve up to 20 different people across AT, KiwiRail and Auckland One Rail.
The OAG has been told that only 3 percent of the actions were automated.
The OAG has also been told by AT staff that sometimes they must rely on others - including operators and members of the public - to alert them to what was happening on the network.
The report said the manual processes meant that AT provided limited, or sometimes no information, about unplanned disruptions that happened outside of its business hours.
McConnell has given AT a number of recommendations, including reviewing the information it holds about passengers' experience to make improvements, and be more specific on how it will learn from its reviews to better manage disruptions.
He said AT was aware of what it needed to improve its communications around disruptions based on its own surveys and research.
McConnell acknowledged that AT had a programme underway to address these issues.
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