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Source: ONE News -
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Auckland's biggest bus company is being told by the regional
council to either get moving or hit the road out of town as a
lockout of drivers drags on.
NZ Bus, which operates most bus services in Auckland, locked out
900 drivers last Thursday after they said they would work strictly
to the rules in support of their wage claim.
The ongoing lockout on Monday caused problems for thousands of
students heading back to school.
And the operator now faces losing its contract if it does not lift
the lockout.
Day one of term four was also day five with no buses. It was a morning many forced to make a school run would rather forget.
"Today has been just one of the longest drives I've had in a long time," says one man.
In Manukau, no buses means $50 a day in cab fares for one teacher, and no school at all for less fortunate pupils.
"Well I don't have a car so I can't get them there. I've got no choice but to keep them home," says Emily Reed, a parent.
For Auckland Girls' Grammar School which takes pupils from across the region, an end to the stoppage cannot come soon enough.
Students arriving late had taken nearly two-and-a-half hours to get from Pukekohe by train, and then on foot.
Some of the students have no sympathy for drivers seeking higher pay.
Other people, including Emily Reed, say the company should have accepted an offer from driver unions.
Blunt message from ARC chair
The Auckland Regional Council has already withheld $600,000 in fees from NZ Bus for shutting down its services. The message is now even blunter.
"We think the company is being irresponsible and the message to New Zealand bus and their parent company Infratil is provide the services you're contracted for or get out of town, go back to Wellington and we will readvertise those tenders," says Mike Lee, ARC chairman.
"NZ Bus operates public transport services under contract to the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta). NZ Bus is currently in breach of those contracts - it is not delivering the services," Lee says.
"Like any commercial contract, NZ Bus contracts can be terminated for non-performance.
"If this dispute is not settled, I will be calling on Arta to start the process of terminating the existing contracts and finding someone else who will deliver the services that Auckland expects and pays for."
Lee says NZ Bus is effectively holding its 80,000 bus commuters and 9,000 school students to ransom.
"The Auckland travelling public have run out of any patience or sympathy for this on-going nonsense," he says.
"Terminating NZ Bus contracts would be a drastic step. However, it is clear that the company is not responding to other normal commercial pressure, nor in my view does it take seriously its service obligations to the public.
"Perhaps the threat of NZ Bus' entire Auckland business being terminated will sharpen the minds of the negotiators and deliver the break through that is required."
"Not helpful"
NZ Bus spokeswoman Megan McSweeney says Lee's comments "are not helpful".
"We will not be entering into a slanging match with him via the media," she says.
"Our focus at this time is on working constructively in the facilitation process to resolve the issue."
Thousands of children and their parents face the same tough transport choices on Tuesday.
Click here for a list of Auckland's replacement bus services.
Click here to see what schools are affected.
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