The Northern Busway and those new tickets

I have been keeping my lip buttoned on this until now. Well there had to be a few teething problems didn't there.
Now it is time to let rip.

The Northern Busway looks mighty fine....on paper.

Of course there were going to be some grumbles, it does bypass the entire western side of North Shore where the bulk of the "working class" live so they are still battling the traffic.

Still there is the set of new tickets to benefit not only busway users but those in the south west as well.

Introducing the Northern Bus Pass Transferable Ticket, the next best thing to an integrated ticketing system (which we have been asking for for over 20 years now and is now promised for 2010). brochure here

The Northern Pass is valid on all North Shore bus services as far as Albany in the north and Greenhithe in the west. Additionally, you can use it on buses to and from Auckland City, as well as on train services between Britomart and Glen Innes, or Britomart and Newmarket, Ellerslie or Kingsland.
sounds good so far...
For the purposes of the Northern Pass, the North Shore is divided into two zones:
Upper Zone and Lower Zone.
..still with you so far...
and you can choose from the following options:
2-hour pass, all-day pass, 7 day pass or the after 9am pass
...oookkkkkk.....
to travel in either upper and lower zone only, lower zone to city or upper and lower zone to city.

Spotted the problem yet?

No, not the price - the 2-hour pass which you can use for 2 hours from purchase is the same price as a normal stage 3 or 4 ticket.

The kicker is that you cannot use it to transfer south of the bridge.

Need to go to from Birkdale to Newton? Catch one of the 2 buses to Newmarket via Ponsonby with your usual 3 stage ticket or catch one of the multitude into Victoria St on the same 3 stage ticket then get on a Ritchies bus and buy another ticket. Your journey will cost you an extra 50c. The story is no different for passengers from Northcote or Glenfield only the bus company is (Stagecoach).

So why did they bring in this ticket anyway? Surely not just for that little minority that might like to travel from Highbury to Browns Bay on one ticket?
No.
It was for those poor (and more numerous) folk who used to catch the bus in Sunnynook to go to Milford or Takapuna. The buses used to be numerous and it was only a 1 stage fare but no longer.
Thanks to the new busway it is now takes much longer and requires 2 or sometimes 3 different bus journeys and remember that northern pass costs the same as a 3 stage ticket so cheaper it is not.
Want to go to North Shore Hospital?
No longer do the bus routes stop right outside in the carpark. Well, Birkenhead's never did but that is beside the point.
Now you have to walk from the new Smales Farm station. That's right, it has escaped the planners that many people going to the hospital can't walk an extra 700 metres and better still many can't drive instead either for medical or parking (lack of) reasons.

The busway way itself is A- but the bus routes and ticketing have slipped to a D-.