Trams or a winding bus? Wellington rapid transit up to two options

Residents of Wellington will be asked to choose between streetcars or an articulated ‘bendy bus’ for the city’s rapid transit system.

Let’s Get Wellington Moving is expected to release options in early November for the two most important projects on the program: a rapid transit system and highway changes through the Mount Victoria Tunnel and around the Basin Reserve.

A number of different scenarios for the route and mode of rapid transit, each of which will have its own implications for the change of the tunnel and the basin reserve, will be presented to the public.

The bus rapid transit option would be articulated electric buses approximately 18 meters in length, with a capacity of 100 to 120 people per vehicle and an hourly capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 people per trip, announced on Thursday. program staff.

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It would likely have reserved lanes through Te Aro and the city center, but could be required to share road space with other vehicles in the outer suburbs.

The articulated bus system would be able to run more flexible routes and could be built faster than a tram system.

However, articulated buses would not have the same advantages for increasing urban development as a tram.

The tram option would see modern electric trams built on steel tracks.

The trams would measure between 23 meters and 43 meters depending on demand, with a capacity of between 120 and 300 passengers in each vehicle, and an hourly capacity of up to 4,500 customers.

Construction would be more disruptive and it would take up to five years to build the entire corridor, staff said, but this option would have the greatest benefits by allowing for higher density developments.

Rapid transit from the station to the airport has long been considered the preferred approach, but a route to Island Bay via Newtown seems increasingly likely.

A report presented at the press conference contained clues suggesting that the Island Bay Road could gain ground.

“[The] second backbone of public transport not only on access to the airport. [It] must allow more change of housing and driving mode, ”says the report.

At another point, he acknowledged that there were resilience issues in the eastern suburbs as the “south of the city is the hotbed of growth”.

Let’s Get Wellington Moving stressed that public engagement in November will be based on qualitative feedback and will not be a public vote.

Let’s Get Wellington Moving is a joint $ 6.4 billion program managed by the Waka Kotahi NZ transport agency, Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council. The 20-year project is designed to solve the capital’s transportation problems.