29 November 2011

Council moves to improve bus service

Horizons Regional Council today adopted the Regional Public Transport Plan which maps out the strategy for maintaining and improving the region’s public transport network over the next ten years.

Included in Horizons’ strategy are a number of improvements the council plans on making to their Palmerston North services, subject to funding availability. In the short term these include extended weekday service hours; providing more services in the weekend; an improved service to the Summerhill area; and a late night service on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

The council is also keen to investigate express routes in Palmerston North and Wanganui and increased frequency or adapting routes to encourage higher patronage.

Horizons made changes to the Palmerston north bus service in 2010, increasing service frequency to every 20 minutes during peak hours. The improvements resulted in an increase in patronage of around 27%.

Chair of Horizons' passenger transport committee Vern Chettleburgh said there was potential for further growth and he hoped the planned changes would encourage this.

“The strategy has been drafted in consultation with the public and we've had a lot of good ideas about how they think the services can be improved,” said Mr. Chettleburgh.

“As users or potential users of our services their feedback is very important and I thank them for their contribution."

Public transport is funded through by those who use the service, Horizons Regional Council and the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA).

ENDS

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