Explainer - Whether it's a Metallica concert, the Santa Parade or, yes, even the much-hyped opening of IKEA, Auckland Transport Operation Centre is tasked with trying to keep people moving.
It looks a little bit like NASA's Mission Control, with dozens of monitors and computer screens all humming away with eyes on a city of more than 1.5 million people every busy day.
Nestled amongst the cafes and offices of Auckland's North Shore, the Auckland Transport Operation Centre - ATOC for short - is the nerve centre of a massive network of roads, bus schedules, intersections and stop signs throughout much of the North Island. Between Christmas shopping and holiday road trips, it's entering one of the busiest times of the year.
Here's a look at how exactly it all works.
Photo: RNZ / Nik Dirga
What exactly does ATOC do?
The centre is run in a partnership by Auckland Transport and NZTA and operates Auckland as what's called "one network" - responsible for managing local roads, state highways, bus and ferry travel, as well as train travel, which is handled from a separate location.
It covers state highways from TaupΕ to Cape Reinga, while a sister centre in Wellington covers from TΕ«rangi to Invercargill.
Between them, the two centres cover approximately 11,000 km of state highways.
Claire Howard has been managing the Auckland centre for the past year and a half, and previously put in many years on the "shop floor" there.
"The network is like the arteries in your body - they're all connected," she said.
"We have a kind of ethos that we want to get our customers from A to B, and travel as quickly and efficiently as possible, regardless of who operates that part of the network."
What this means is a constantly churning surveillance network across CCTV and other trackers keeping an eye on motorways, bus stops, and much more.
And it never truly sh
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