Officials are warning Auckland commuters to prepare for a significant surge in traffic as the “March Madness” period begins. Congestion peaks in Auckland this month as the last returnees from summer leave coincide with students returning to schools and universities after the summer break. According to Auckland Transport (AT), more people use the network from February until early April than at any other time of year. Traffic is expected to peak between 7am and 9am, and 3pm and 6pm. Public transport operations group manager Rachel Cara said commuters are likely to be affected, regardless of how they travel. “With our buses, trains and ferries making 13,500 trips per day, including 500 school trips, AT anticipates there will be over two million passenger journeys each week.” Automobile Association policy director Martin Glynn said traffic had already risen over the past week and would only get worse as tens of thousands of university students head back. “So if it’s anything like past years, we should definitely see an increase this week and into March,” Glynn said. He said the average journey on the Southern Motorway is expected to climb by at least six minutes this week, and three minutes on the Northwestern Motorway and the Southwestern Motorway. It was difficult to predict if traffic would be worse than in previous years, as typical indicators were inconsistent, Glynn said. “Auckland’s population grew a little last year, I think about 1%, so that does mean more people on the roads. But the economy hasn’t been in great shape, which tends to mean less traffic, especially at peak times. “So it’s kind of hard to say, to be really frank.” Auckland commuters are warned to prepare for heavy traffic. Herald photo by Sylvie Whinray Auckland Transport Operations Centre (AOTC) manager Claire Howard said her team would be “implementing reactive responses” during the busy period to optimise traffic flow. “These include managing signals to clear traffic, deploying estimated journey times on digital displays and monitoring the roads with a one network lens. “This means that no matter where you are travelling through, arterial roads or state highways, there is a team working 24 hours to ensure that Aucklanders get to where they need to get to safely.”