Will the Harry Styles concert be another public transport disaster?

Multiple Grammy Award-winner Harry Styles will be performing at Auckland’s Mount Smart Stadium on Tuesday, to a crowd of 40,000 people.

Doors for Styles’ concert open at 5pm, peak rush hour for Auckland traffic, and Auckland Transport (AT) has told punters to expect delays.

“Please be prepared for travel delays, due to the ongoing rail closures on part of the Southern and Onehunga lines and the event coinciding with the weekday peak commute hours, which will limit the number of special event buses available,” AT said in a statement.

AT has reminded concert-goers that travel on regular timetabled bus and train services is included with their ticket.

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“If you’re coming from Auckland City Centre, a good option is to take the train to Ōtāhuhu station on the Eastern Line, and then take a bus to Penrose Station, which is a short 10-minute walk to the venue,” AT wrote on its website.

There are still quite a few rail closures, with a rail replacement bus running between Newmarket and Otahuhu, which you can take to Penrose then walk to the stadium.

A limited amount of special event buses will be running from Auckland CBD to Mount Smart, before and after the concert.

For those wanting to drop off and pick up, they can do so from Felix St, a 13-minute walk to the stadium, or Neilson St, a 30-minute walk.

Concert-goers can also be picked up one hour after the show from Maurice Rd, right next to Mount Smart.

A limited amount of free parking is available from 5pm–1am, in car parks at 17 and 18-24 Botha Rd, a seven-minute walk from the stadium.

There is also free, 24-hour parking available at Neilson St, Captain Springs Rd, Autumn Place, Southpark Place, Mays Rd, Mays Ln, Malvern Rd, Henderson Place, Goodman Place and Patrick St.

There is also the option of parking at Alexandra Park Raceway, in Greenlane, and taking one of the free shuttles to Mount Smart.

Travel issues at Mount Smart were first highlighted at the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in January, when some concert-goers were told their ticket did not count as a public transport fare, as previously advertised by Auckland Transport (AT).

Two weeks later, Sir Elton John was set to perform at Mount Smart, and rather than repeat past mistakes, AT advised attendees to drive to the concert, because of a spell of bad weather on the horizon.

However, the bad weather was much worse than anticipated, with Sir Elton John cancelling his concerts and flooding engulfing the city.

On top of all this, Auckland is in the thick of March Madness, the supercity’s busiest time of year on the roads.

The return of tertiary students and other factors typically drives a spike of 1.5 million trips in March, and this year coincides with a shortage of 393 bus drivers and 36 ferry crew members, and two sections of the rail network being closed or constrained by track work.

When Stuff timed how long it would take to get from downtown Auckland to Mount Smart Stadium on Monday night, it was sitting at 30 minutes at 5pm.