Auckland Transport (AT) has defended its decision to run a reduced timetable despite Omicron circulating in the community and reports of overcrowding on buses and trains.
Newshub has received complaints from customers who have called the decision to stick with the summer timetable "absolutely ridiculous" and questioned how people are meant to socially distance.
"Less service means less buses and trains. This leads to it being busier than usual, with more people taking that bus that runs less frequently. More people are jammed onto a train or bus and no 1m social distance as everyone is jammed onto a bus or train to get a seat," one person told Newshub.
Multiple people told Newshub that they couldn't get on buses to the Hibiscus Coast because they're too "crammed".
Another person said: "The queues to get on the NX are crazy long. Now the virus would already have spread since the buses are so overcrowded, thanks to Auckland Transport. Wouldn't be surprised if we all get COVID."
AT spokesman Blake Crayton-Brown told Newshub on Monday that under red, distancing is not required on public transport.
"Under the COVID-19 Protection Framework, distancing is not currently required on public transport at the 'red' setting, nor was it needed when Auckland was at 'orange'", Crayton-Brown said.
"There are a range of measures in place to keep people safe on board our services, such as the requirement for passengers to wear masks onboard, rigorous and regular cleaning across the fleet, and the use of QR codes to help with contact tracing.
"Because distancing hasn't been recommended or required by the Government, we're continuing to operate our services to capacity."
AT released a statement on its website and mobile app on Sunday that said bus and train services would remain at a reduced timetable in red.
"Bus and train services will remain at a reduced timetable in the Red setting," AT said. "At this stage, the plan is to continue the return of bus services to normal timetables from Tuesday 1 February followed by trains on Tuesday 8 February."
Crayton-Brown said they encourage customers to register their AT HOP cards as it can help with contact tracing if needed.
"We're continuing to encourage our passengers to register their AT HOP cards as this information can be used to assist Regional Public Health with contact tracing if needed - we're currently seeing more than 85 percent of our passengers using registered HOP cards, which is fantastic," he said.
"Auckland Transport is continuing to follow the latest guidance from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Transport and we will act swiftly to put in place any additional safety measures recommended by health authorities in coming weeks."
Crayton-Brown said despite the spike in passenger numbers last week, they are still down on pre-COVID levels.
"Despite the increase in bus passenger numbers we saw last week, our bus patronage was sitting at only 53.5 percent of pre-COVID levels for this time of year, and overall during the week our bus network had enough capacity for about 75 percent of pre-COVID passenger volumes," he said.
"We made the decision to run reduced bus and train services until the beginning of February based on a robust analysis of passenger numbers from previous summers along with the Government's latest COVID-19 guidance.
"We know passenger numbers tend to slowly increase over January, but it's not until schools and universities start back that we see the biggest increase in passenger numbers.
"Our ferry services have already returned to their regular timetables, and it's just over a week until our bus services return to their regular timetables on 1 February, with train services returning to regular timetables on 8 February."
