In 2000, the North Shore Busway Office was established with a team to focus both on the overall scheme as well as the station components.

McCormick Rankin undertook refined schematic design and the Busway Team focused on the community consultation and funding programmes.

This provided a distinctive design signature to the region visually linking all public transport facilities.

MARIO MADAYAG/Jasmax Architects were selected as winners for the competition with part of their benefit being their commission on this concept design exercise.

The ARC separately engaged MARIO MADAYAG/Jasmax to develop the Theming Manuals within the set parameters of that project.

Construction employed around 300 people at its peak, with around a million man-hours being invested, including shifts during 512 nights.

[8][9] A proposed station at Onewa was cancelled after local residents petitioned and protested against the scheme – claiming that it would increase traffic on neighbourhood streets.

[10][11] The busway was officially opened in February 2008[12] after several years of construction, though the Albany and Constellation stations had been operating since December 2005 using the normal Northern Motorway lanes.

[18] In 2015, some Northern Express services were extended to Hibiscus Coast busway station (formerly named Silverdale Park and Ride).

[19] In 2017, Auckland Transport's projections indicated that the busway would reach maximum capacity in 2026, twenty years earlier than originally expected.

AT's report said that increased patronage would "manifest in overcapacity conditions and poor operational performances" at Albany, Sunnynook and Akoranga stations.

[9] The busway has two lanes for 6.2 km[25] running parallel with the eastern side of the Northern Motorway from Albany Station to Akoranga Station at the Esmonde Road interchange,[26] from where a one-way southbound bus lane extends a further 2.5 km to south of the Onewa Road interchange, where it merges with the motorway for the Harbour Bridge.

The cables installed in these ducts during 2012 and 2013 form part of a major upgrade to the security of supply to North Auckland and Northland.

The station would be sited on Arrenway Drive with platforms extending across Rosedale Road for bus transfers to other routes.

Auckland Transport have studied the future mass transit needs for the North Shore, with light rail being determined the most flexible mode compared to other rail-based options.