All commuters are divided into following categories

1. Living, working and studying within greater CBD.
2. Living in urban area and working / studying in local main centres
3. Living in urban area but working / studying in greater CBD or vice versa.

Here you can see some examples of how this system would provide the services to commuters. If anyone did not fall into the above categories you can contact the host then you will be contacted and be suggested the best option would be for you.

1. If you live, work and study within the greater CBD(meaning the area within where the roads connecting New Market, Britomart, Viaduct and Kingsland) you will have a small circular bus route within the large greater CBD circular bus routes plus some extra circular routes where (click here to see the details, to be updated soon) to enable more than 90% of greater CBD residents fall into this category to have bus stops less than 500 metres away from where ever you live or work/study. There will always have two sets of buses running along the route like a double track train. You do not need a car and no cost for you to go work, study or shopping from your home or vice versa– in fact go anywhere in the greater CBD without needing your personal car because the bus services is free of charge for everybody and you have very good chance to catch a bus with less than 300 metres of walking within the greater CBD.

Remember that the greater CBD is a Car Pool Only Area (CPOA). A large number of personal cars (approximately 30,000 personal cars) will be parking in the Park & Ride Stations outside of the greater CBD. This will enable the buses to drive within this area without congestion for sure. When the “One Basket” bus management system is up and running you will see the number of those buses, which their sole purpose for running within the greater CBD; would be just 20 to 25. (Surely the city could afford to have 20-25 buses free of charge to the public.) The rest of the buses we needed to cover the whole area shall come from outside of the greater CBD–the majority of the buses come from outside of the greater CBD will not just simply stop at Britomart and goes back. Instead they will continue its journey and become one of the free buses and run a particular route within the greater CBD before heading back to where they come from. The city should be able to afford those small extra cost due to the extra running distance by the buses from outside of the greater CBD.

If you live in greater CBD you will be assigned a non transferable single driver permission card in case you do need drive your car within this area for whatever reason. This system would be so convenient that 90% of the people who is living in greater CBD would not welling to use their cars anyway.

2. If you live in local urban area and working / studying in local urban main centres. You will have a circular bus route connecting your local main centres. Two sets of buses will run along the route like a double track train to pick up and drop off commuters from your home to your working/studying places or vice versa. This bus route will always connect at least one of the P&R Stations, all main centres, commercial estates, intensified residential areas, schools and hospitals etc in their local areas. For example if you live in Albany village and work at Rosedale industry area you will always find out a bus to take you to your work place from where you live and take you back home when you finished your work. Approximately 50% of the “local” commuters fall into this category would be covered by this “Local Connecting Network” (clickhere to see the details, to be updated soon) meaning you do not need to drive to and from your work or study place. Some (about 20%) of the commuters may choose walking more than 500 metres but less than 1 km to one of the bus stop to catch the bus and do the same as above 50% of the commuters. Or you may simply choose to drive to where you need to go–by the time this system is up and running the road will be a lot easier to drive anyway.
3. If you live outside but working and studying in greater CBD or vice versa.  Here we are going to use two examples to explain how the FACTS works for commuters.

Q1:      How would the FACTS provide the services to Mr. A who lives in Albany village and work in Newmarket? (Surely most of the commuters living in North Shore and working/studying in great CBD would have less stress than Mr. A on transport issues or you can tell the web host your situation and get him to tell you what the best option would be for you)

Q2:      How would the FACTS provide the services to Mrs B who lives in Lemnos Place Titirangi and studying in University of Auckland?

A1:       This is the case study for commuters who live anywhere in the city, where the train or ferry is not the best  commuting methods such as Howick, Highland Park and Botany Downs etc. Here we give an example for Mr A who lives in Albany village, where is a high density residential area, and is on the route of Albany Local Connecting Network. In this case there are two buses, Bus A1 and Bus A2 shall start from the corner of Albany High way and the end of Bush Rd stating at say 6:45 am. One named Bus A2 goes towards William Pickering Dr another one with the name of “A1” goes along Albany Highway and will come to Albany village at about 7:05. Mr A shall just walk less than 300 metres to the stop from his home and take this A1 bus which will arrive at Albany P&R station at about 7:15. From there A1 bus will take just 15 minutes to go straight to Viaduct Transit Centre (VTC) without stop along #1 Car Pool Only Lane (CPOL) on the Motorway (Northern Busway shall become part of the #1CPOL).

After VTC, A1 bus shall become one of the CBD buses and continues its journey with the main stops at Victoria Street, University of Auckland, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland Hospital and then arrive at Newmarket Train station where the station had been converted to Newmarket Transit Centre (NTC) in about 20 minutes. Mr A then can go to his destination by walking or take another free bus if his working place is still too far to walk which shall only take couple of minutes because there are plenty of buses to go all directions at NTC for him to choose from. If Mr A is not satisfactory with the services provided under this system he can explain his situation and apply a single driver permission card. If his case is genuine he shall be issued a card and drive his own car all the way to and from his home and destinations.

After bus A1 drops of the passengers like Mr. A it will then pick up the passengers at NTC (Still run as CBD bus) and goes back to VTC along its route with only difference of going along Wellesley St instead of Victoria St before arriving VTC. After VCT it shall stops at all stops along the #1CPOL instead of non-stop before arriving Albany P&R Station. A1 bus then shall repeat the above journey until the time to finish the day.

Similarly Bus A2 shall go through Rosedale Industry area, Messy University and Albany Mega Centre before arriving at Albany P&R station, where she shall do the same as A1 with the only difference of going along Wellesley St and come back along Victoria St.

This case study shows that any commuter who is living along his Local Connecting Network and working within 500 metres of walking distance of the above bus route would be able to go to their destination without changing transportation methods. Other commuters who were not coved by LCN can drive their car to the nearby P&R station, (There are more bus routes options for commuters to choose from here).  He or she will have a reserved car park space in that P&R station, free of charge, waiting for him/her so they do not need to go around and around to find a space to park their cars at the very early morning –the worst situation is at the end they found out the car park is full and they have to drive to where they need to go from current P&R stations. If for any reason any commuters could not get a parking space where they eligible to then the system will issue a single driver permission card for them to display in their car so they will be allowed to drive within the greater CBD.

Other commuters living in North Shore, in fact anywhere in the city where the train or ferry is not the preferred commuting methods such as Howick, Highland Park and Botany Downs etc, can either do the same as Mr A or drive their cars to one of the P&R stations nearby, if they live farer than a walking distance from the LCN buses, then take a bus to their destinations with high chances of without changing to another bus or another transportation methods.

A2:    The following is the case study for commuters who live anywhere in the city, where the train is a better commuting method and how the FACTS would provide the services to them, for example for Mrs B who lives in Lemnos Place Titirangi and studying in University of Auckland?

What Mrs B could do: Either walk to a bus stop on Titirangi Rd and take a Local Connecting Network (LCN) bus to New Lynn train station or drive to New Lynn train station car park where she has a reserved parking space available for her (no need to look for the parking space and free of charge). Either way she would take an express train to Kingsland without stop (We shall have express train starting from Henderson and only stops at New Lynn before arriving at Kingsland then becomes a normal train and stops at all stations before arriving at Britomart after Kingsland).

At Kingsland train station there are at least 5 buses waiting for the train commuters, free of charge. Bus No1 will go towards Britomart through Symonds St which is what Mrs B needs. Bus No2 will also go towards Britomart but though Queen St. Bus No3 will go towards Newmarket and Bus No4 will go towards Viaduct along the circular greater CBD route (opposite directions). Bus No5 shall go around Hobson St and Albert St between Kingsland and Britomart.

When Bus No1 leaves Britomart towards back to Kingsland shall go through Queen St and Bus No2 shall go through Symonds St respectively. Bus No3 and No4 shall go along the circular route through all Transit centres and repeat their journey until the end of the day.

Pretty much the same for commuters who live in Southern part of Auckland where the train is their preferred commuting method where we shall have express train starting from Manukau City and only stops at Papatoetoe, Otahuhu, Penrose and then becomes a normal train which shall stop at all stations before arriving at Britomart.

We would be expecting that half of the commuters from south would jump off the train at Newmarket train station and jump in free buses to where their destinations are.

At Newmarket train station there are at least 4 buses waiting for the train commuters, free of charge. Bus No1 will go towards Viaduct through Wellesley St. Bus No2 will also go towards Viaduct but though Victoria St. Bus No3 will go towards Kingsland and Bus No4 will go towards Britomart along the circular greater CBD route (opposite directions).

When Bus No1 leaves Viaduct towards back to Newmarket shall go through Victoria St and Bus No2 shall go through Wellesley St respectively. Bus No3 and No4 shall go along the circular route through all Transit centres and repeat their journey until the end of the day.

We shall have a train starting from Sylvia Park towards Britomart along eastern rail line and stops at all stations before arriving at Britomart and vice versa.

There are two express trains on each rail lines in the morning peak hours and three during the afternoon peak hours. The rest of the trains shall stop at all stations and run as usual. All the express train stations (except Penrose Train Station) shall be a P&R station with the minimum capacity of 500 car parking spaces. Most of them shall have 1000+.