Todd Niall is the senior Auckland affairs reporter for Stuff.

ANALYSIS: A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column headlined “People are warming to Auckland Transport. But can it last?”

The answer came a couple of days later.

Just when the council’s transport agency was feeling chuffed at an upswing in its quarterly survey of public sentiment towards it, another reputational pothole struck.

AT had missed the last steps in consultation on creating an all-day dedicated bus lane along one-side of central Karangahape Road, an important element in its revamp of bus services from the west.

Several businesses went public, complaining they were unaware the change was happening from November 12, and bemoaned the loss of 27 kerbside parks, some of which had limited availability.

After a couple of days of headlines and an unspecified intervention by the mayor Wayne Brown, AT delayed the 7am-7pm rollout until February, reinstating 22 of 27 kerbside parks, outside peak times.

AT’s own survey shows news stories are big influencers of public attitudes towards it, and the splash over several days was not a good look – yet again – due to a slip-up with consultation.

Brown gave the impression he had spoken to AT ahead of the backdown, though he also expressed support for the project, which is exactly the kind of re-use of existing assets, which he advocates for.

For AT the dilemma is whether to focus on reputation, or results, and delaying an albeit small element of the biggest public transport revamp in six years, might turn out to frustrate some bus users on the route.

Just one day into the new Western Express programme, which reshapes local services out west, around a rapid-transit “lite” partial busway along the northwestern motorway, services were disrupted by congestion.

Not in Karangahape Road, but on the motorway onramp at Westgate, where a “cautious” approach by road-owner Waka Kotahi means a bus priority lane won’t be in place for another six months.

The irony of the mayor’s involvement showed up a week or so later, in a radio interview on the slow-moving plans to introduce congestion charging, or time-of-use charging in the city.

“Consultation is bollocks” said an impatient Brown. But apparently not when it involves a small number of carparks in a priority bus lane in an area that has other parking options.

It is the making of swift progress on a host of small tweaks that will play a key part in making public transport quicker, more reliable, and a more attractive option for people currently driving.

Both the mayor and AT’s chief executive Dean Kimpton don’t believe the city will achieve its goals in reducing transport emissions and helping to slow global warming.

AT can’t afford to make mistakes, even small ones like the Karangahape Road consultation, where discussion on the bus lanes was bundled with discussion of other changes that won’t occur until 2025-6.

There needs to be both a winning over of the public, but also a demonstration of commitment, to the idea that rapid change is needed to provide more attractive alternatives to motoring.

The mayor Wayne Brown needs to be a consistent advocate for sensible and practical improvements of the kind he has demanded from AT.

Brown has distanced himself from the council’s commitment to cut transport emissions by 64% by 2030.

If he is happy to push for a rapid implementation of time-of-use charging, then he needs to back pushing on with the Karangahape Road bus changes, which now won’t be complete until February.