100,000 passenger trips were taken on Orbus Queenstown in January 2018 – compared to 41,000 trips taken on Queentown’s
former commercial bus service in the same month of 2017.
“This is an outstanding result and well beyond our expectations” Regional Council Chair Stephen Woodhead says. “The
passenger numbers tell us that Queenstown has literally got on board, and we thank the local community for their
support. Acknowledgment is also due to a huge effort from Regional Council and Ritchie’s staff, who have worked through
many challenges to get the service established in a short timeframe.”
“It’s great to see that Queenstown residents and visitors are embracing public transport as a first choice, with its
benefits for the environment and reducing congestion,” says Jim Harland, Director Regional Relationships, NZ Transport
Agency. “As with any change of such magnitude there were bound to be some initial challenges and we are confident that
the Regional Council and Ritchies are resolving them.”
“We’re over the moon about the continued success of Orbus” Queenstown Mayor Jim Boult says. “Every single one of these
passengers is potentially a car off the road so this is a huge benefit to Queenstown, both environmentally and in terms
of reducing congestion. It’s worth remembering this if you see a bus trying to get out into traffic – they are doing
everyone a huge service so be sure to show them a little courtesy and let them in. The better the bus service operates,
the more people will use it and the less traffic we’ll see on the roads.”
Regional Council representatives met yesterday with several groups in Queenstown to gather feedback from community
groups and representatives from the tourism and business sectors and to give a general update on the bus service.
Operational challenges to date including late running and missed services were acknowledged and discussed. A shortage of
available drivers was the primary cause of this, with availability of affordable accommodation in Queenstown being one
of the key constraints, Gerard Collings, ORC Manager Support Services said. “We are very much aware that concerns about
reliability will have been causing some people to be hesitant about using the service. January’s total missed trips have
been around 0.5% of the 7,500 trips – this is well above what we would normally accept as an appropriate standard of
service and alongside Ritchies, we are working hard on solving these problems.”
In response to customer feedback received in the first months of the new service, improvements to customer service were
also a focus for both Ritchies and the Regional Council, Mr Collings said.
Regional Council Chief Executive Sarah Gardner said a new Transport Officer dedicated to Orbus Queenstown and based in
the Regional Council’s new Queenstown office would start in April.
“We are feeling very positive about the future of public transport in Queenstown. We very much appreciate all the
feedback we have received from the community and we encourage you to keep it coming, as this is what enables us to grow
and improve the service for you” Mrs Gardner said.