The public transport renaissance around the motu
A look at the improvements and gains made in public transport in cities and regions around Aotearoa.
In my previous article, I discussed the improvements to the frequent transit network in the last year in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Today, we will be swapping our HOP card for a Bee Card to go on a trip around Aotearoa New Zealand to take a deeper look at the improvements made to the public transport networks in other cities.
These improvements consist of new routes, increasing the frequency of existing routes and delivering infrastructure to improve accessibility and the customer experience when using public transport. These have been delivered thanks to support from local councils and projects that received funding as part of the Transport Choices Package from Waka Kotahi, funded by the Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
Kirikiriroa Hamilton:
Our journey starts with a train ride from Tāmaki Makaurau via Te Huia to Rotokauri Transport Hub to transfer into The Meteor, which went live in August 2023 (running 15 minutes, 7 am to 6 pm). The east-west spine route connects The Base shopping centre, Dinsdale, Frankton, Hamilton Transport Centre, when heads across the Waikato River to Hamilton East, Ruakura, University of Waikato, before branching off to service the suburbs of Hillcrest and Silverdale.
Since its introduction, the Meteor has performed better than the former 2 and 8 routes, which the service replaced, as patronage had increased by 83% on weekdays by October 2023, an average of 9129 passengers per week compared to 4925 on the previous services. The service has continued to grow with the service recently passing 500,000 trips. The Transport Choices package saw upgrades to bus stops with new bus shelters and safety improvements near bus stops across the city.
Manawatū-Whanganui:
We now go on the Northern Explorer to Te Papaoiea Palmerston North to check out the city’s new bus network, which went live in March. The new network consists of 7 “Urban Line” routes (running 15 minutes at peak times, 30 minutes off-peak), new bus routes connecting Massey, more services to Ashhurst, increased operating hours (6:30 am - 9 pm), and the network running on fully electric buses.
The new network has resulted in a significant increase in bus services from 324 services running per weekday on the former network to 610 services on the new network and 77 to 428 services on Sunday, improving the accessibility to public transport services 7 days a week. So far, the bus network has seen an increase in passengers with patronage numbers in April up by 54% and by 32% in May compared to the same time last year. Patronage at the weekends has increased by 92%, and patronage on the Ashhurst service has increased by 62%. New bus shelters were installed with real-time bus information and solar lighting.
We now board the 225 to go to Whanganui to check out Te Ngaru The Tide: a high-frequency bus route from Castlechiff to Aarmoho via Gonville, Whanganui Hospital and the city centre (running every 20 minutes, Monday - Friday: 7 am- 7 pm, Saturday 9 am - 3 pm, every 1 hour: 7 pm - 11 pm) which went live in February 2023.
The introduction of the route resulted in a significant boost in patronage with an 101% increase in boardings in June 2023, compared to the patronage numbers in June 2022, with 52% of those trips taken during the month being on The Tide. By its first anniversary, there were 12,361 boardings in January 2024 with 8114 for those boardings on The Tide. Upgrades have been made to bus stops around the city with new bus shelters, tactile ground surface indicators, real-time bus information and bike and scooter parking.
Whakatū Nelson:
We head across the Cook Strait to Te Waipouanamu South Island to Whakatū Nelson, which just celebrated the one-year birthday of eBus: the bus network connecting the city and Te Tai o Aorere Tasman District. The eBus network saw the introduction of routes 1 and 2 running from Nelson to Richmond, which runs every 30 minutes between 7 am and 7 pm, creating a 15-minute frequent corridor between Stoke and Richmond. New routes are introduced to service the airport, hospital (running 30 minutes, 7 am - 7 pm), Motueka and Wakefield. The network runs on fully electric buses.
The eBus network has been successful, with patronage increased by 101% with the 931,000 trips completed within its first year, with 70,000 trips completed on the Motueka and Wakefield. There has also been an increase in multimodal trips with 1196 bikes loaded onto the buses in May, showing how bike racks on buses can unlock multimodal adventures around the region. Upgrades were made to the downtown bus terminal to accommodate the electric bus fleet and 18 bus shelters were installed across the city.
Ōtakou Otago:
We now go from the top of Te Waipouanamu to the bottom starting in Tāhuna Queenstown where the gains made from the Orbus network, which went live in 2017 had continued to grow with 1.9 million trips taken between July 2023 - June 2024, an increase of 51%.
In Ōtepoti Dunedin, patronage numbers on the public transport network have reached a 6-year high with 3.9 million trips taken between July 2023 - June 2024, an increase of 21%. The bus network in Ōtepoti consists of several high-frequency cross-city routes running every 15 or 20 minutes at peak times and express buses between Mosgiel and Dunedin city centre, the latter was introduced last year, and has saw 17,000 trips recorded in the service’s first 10 months.
Conclusion:
It’s great to see the difference that these improvements and new bus networks are making to deliver more transport choices in our smaller cities. Despite the funding being pulled on the Transport Choices package which had unfortunately resulted in projects to improve public transport, walking and cycling around Aotearoa being put on hold or been cancelled, there still have been some great projects delivered to improve the public transport experience in our towns and cities. As shown in the patronage numbers, Investing in these improvements have paid off and I look forward to watching the gains made in these towns and cities as these networks continue to grow.
Great article Shaun!
A couple minor typos:
- “Rokohauri” should be “Rotokauri”
- “Te Waipouamamu” should be “Te Waipounamu”