Central city road works in Bowen Street were behind the temporary relocation of several bus-stops in January, which affected buses travelling to the Sandringham area.

Once the work was completed, PeopleMax® had members of their contract workforce out making people aware that they could return to their usual bus stops in the CBD.

More transport upgrades have been underway around the city – this time in South Auckland – at the Otara Transport Centre on January 16th and 17th.

The upgrade meant that the usual stops were closed and buses were relocated to temporary stops. PeopleMax® had part-time contract workers on hand as Transport Ambassadors who ensured that passengers were directed to the correct temporary stop.

The NZ Transport Agency, Auckland Transport and KiwiRail are currently collaborating on an upgrade of the Ellerslie Train Station.

The idea is that in the future the Southern Motorway will have an extra lane constructed in the north-bound direction. The new station design will allow this to happen.

And, as an added bonus, the station itself will have a better layout with more attractive facilities and much improved access.

To help make the renovation go smoother, we have PeopleMax® part-time Transport Ambassadors monitoring passenger movement on the platform, answering any questions and helping any mobility or sight-impaired passengers that need assistance due to the changes in the layout of the station while it’s under renovation.

Santa also made an appearance at this yearly event in the Auckland Domain. The Newmarket and Grafton train stations had 3 PeopleMax® event staff members a-piece informing the public about two things – the walking route to the event and how to get home after the event.

Meanwhile at the Domain, 5 PeopleMax® contract staff were there beforehand to direct bus drivers to specific locations to drop off their passengers; and were there afterwards to help people catch the correct bus to go home.

Thousands of people lined Queen Street and the surrounding area to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus – our hard-working contract staff gave up their chance to see Santa so they could help out parade-goers and other members of the public get around Auckland smoothly.

36 of our contract staff manned bus-stops around the CBD to hand out flyers informing the public about new bus timetables brought about by the parade, and to point people in the right direction to catch their bus.

Another international sporting event, another win for New Zealand, and over 30 PeopleMax® part-time workers out on the streets of Auckland helping things to run smoothly. The triathlon course meant many streets in Downtown Auckland were closed, meaning bus diversions and bus-stop relocations. PeopleMax® contract workers were ensuring bus-stops had the correct signage, redirecting the public to new bus-stops and assuring them that they were in the right location to catch their bus.

The countdown is all but complete and whilst kick off for the 2011 Rugby World Cup is at 8.30pm on Friday, for the Auckland Transport Ambassadors the game started last week with the initial communications for downtown public transport users, particularly those around Britomart, being informed of bus stop relocation.

From Friday morning, over 100 Public Transport Ambassadors will be stationed at the main transport hubs and the smaller stations and bus stops providing information on the many changes and assisting the public transport users during the Rugby World Cup. It’s not just those going to or from the game that need assistance – many commuters not attending the games will be relying on public transport to get themselves around town and with so many changes in place – the Transport Ambassadors will be worked to capacity.

Aside from project specific training, a series of special 4 hour briefings were conducted providing the Ambassadors with a broad overview of the event and the overall Public Transport plan. Bruce Barnard, Rugby World Cup Project Director for Transport and John Strawbridge, Operations Manager for Eden Park made presentations and provided insight to the planning and organisation for the Rugby World Cup, which is the largest single event in the world for 2011!

These presentations were complimented with a thorough overview provided by both Veolia Transport and Auckland Transport’s Chloe Hedley and Kash Chitnis from Rob Pitney’s team.

A selection of Peoplemax’s part time workers and contractors have been appointed Public Transport Ambassadors for the event, many having worked on transport communication projects before as the organisation is the approved supplier to Auckland City for these services. This event has been unprecedented in its scope and scale and the opening night game and celebrations will see Auckland’s public transport network used extensively. The need for people on the street, able to communicate effectively with the public is an essential requirement, ensuring that the public transport users are looked after during this exciting event.

Easter Bunny Promotion

Wearing an elaborate bunny suit, carrying a basket of chocolate eggs, Paul, the Easter Bunny, was posted near the entrance of the DFS Galleria store at the airport. His main tasks involved attracting the attention of passengers, greeting potential customers, offering them an egg and encouraging them to have a look around the store.

This was an enjoyable experience for Paul too. His favourite part was the children’s reaction. His least favourite part was the extremely hot Easter Bunny suit, which he described as a ‘wearable sauna’.

Father’s Day Golf Promotion

As a Father’s Day promotion (4th and 5th of September, 12–2pm and 4-6pm), DFS ran a ‘hole in one putting competition’. This project required two People Max® promoters to dress up in stereotypical golfing attire. One person ran the putting green while the other approached shoppers to see if they would like to participate. If the shopper made a retail purchase they could enter the competition; if they got a hole in one, they received a three-pack of golf balls.

Before the project, People Max® also researched potential golf costumes, and was also responsible for hiring and returning the costumes afterwards.

The ‘golfers’ interacted with approximately 400 customers over the project. The customers enjoyed the novel promotion, and found it fun while waiting for their purchase.

Funky Santa Christmas Promotion

To celebrate Christmas 2004, DFS Galleria wanted a Funky Santa for their Downtown and Airport stores. Unlike your traditional Santa, this Santa was going to be younger, and hipper. Their job was to give out lollies, entertain customers, spread Christmas cheer, and help customers.

We also

hired a female promotional worker to play Santa’s assistant at the airport DFS Galleria. Over the week before Christmas these promotional workers interacted with hundreds of happy customers.

The major improvements to the North Shore & Hibiscus Coast bus services commenced from 3 July 2005, and there some quite major teething problems in the down town area. On short notice, People Max® provided additional ambassadors to the disrupted area and worked to help ease the problem.

The major improvements to the North Shore & Hibiscus Coast bus services commenced from 3 July 2005, and there some quite major teething problems in the down town area. On short notice, People Max® provided additional ambassadors to the disrupted area and worked to help ease the problem.

People Max® workers assisted confused passengers for the rest of the week. The workers also pinpointed several key reasons for the disruptions, and these were reported back to the Auckland Regional Transport Authority to assist with solving these issues.

For public transport information go to www.maxx.co.nz