Threats to pull the plug on an NZ Bus contract if the company refuses to end its lockout of 900 bus drivers are unrealistic, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) says.
NZ Bus, which operates most bus services in Auckland, began the lockout on Thursday after drivers said they would work strictly to the rulebook in support of their wage claim.
No NZ Bus services have run since then and the disruption became greater today on the first day of the fourth school term.
The company and four unions representing bus drivers are still in facilitation, but there has been little progress reported.
Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee today said the council would begin procedures to end its contract with NZ Bus in coming days if the lockout did not end.
"Like any commercial contract, NZ Bus contracts can be terminated for non-performance," Mr Lee said.
"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."
However, Arta spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said it would take up to 180 days to terminate the contract and even then it would be "fairly impossible" to replace the bus service.
"If we terminated New Zealand Bus completely then we'd leave a 700-bus gap overnight, and we couldn't do that to the public," Ms Hunter told Radio New Zealand.
"We would need to find an operator that could come up with that level of service in 180 days - that's fairly impossible."
Ms Hunter said she hoped there would be a resolution in the near future, but if there was no progress within the next few days the authority would look at intervening.
"But at this point we're not looking at that process," she said.
"In terms of the services that we are running, with alternative operators including our train operators, we are actually managing to get people into work on time."
NZ Bus spokeswoman Megan McSweeney said Mr Lee's comments were "not helpful".
