Wellington needs to remove hundreds of car parks along arterial roads into the city to make way for bus lanes, or face a future of “transport chaos”, according to the region’s transport head.
Work is already underway to link the central city to the north through bus lanes on Thorndon Quay and Hutt Road, and to improve bus travel on the Golden Mile which takes 90% of Wellington city’s buses.
In addition, the arterial routes connecting people to the central city from Miramar in the east, Karori in the west and Island Bay in the south might require removal of up to 800 on-street car parks.
That would allow bus lanes and bus priority for the more than 2 million bus boardings a month on the Metlink network, and provide safe access for the growing numbers of people choosing to bike, according to Thomas Nash, chairperson of Greater Wellington Regional Council’s transport committee.
