Substantial changes to Hamilton’s bus network will boost frequency and streamline popular transfer options from Monday, 5 February. With 102 more trips each week, nearly all Hamilton suburban routes will run every 30-40 minutes during peak times and return to hourly frequency on weekends.

Travellers should notice more services during weekday peak times. Most notably, the Chartwell (5) and Fitzroy (12) buses will each make six extra return trips a week, and the Claudelands (14) bus moves to 40-minute frequency on weekdays and resumes Sunday and public holiday services.

The Hamilton Gardens University (17) bus will make 11 extra return trips during weekday peak times per week and moves to hourly weekend trips, so tourists and locals have more options to visit the gardens. The Jellicoe/Hayes Common area will now be serviced by the Hamilton Gardens University (17) bus, rather than the Hillcrest (10).

Waikato Regional Councillor and Deputy Chair of the Future Proof Public Transport Subcommittee Angela Strange says frequency has improved patronage consistently over the last few years: “We keep seeing improvements to our numbers with the likes of the Comet and Meteor so we are confident that these changes will affect these services in a similar way.”

The high-frequency Comet and Meteor services will also adjust their schedules slightly to improve timing for passengers boarding the Te Huia train service at Rotokauri Station.

These changes are a part of the 2021 BUSIT Refresh programme that gathered public feedback to assess current bus patronage and routes after Covid lockdowns disrupted the timetable and reduced bus services.

Waikato Regional Council’s Team Leader Customer Focus of public transport services, Sandra Sesto-Dekic, says the changes took public feedback into account and represent the most substantial alteration to the timetable since the Covid pandemic.

"The transport team has looked at the whole network holistically to streamline key connections and time frames and improve the way the bus routes work alongside Te Huia at the Rotokauri Transport Hub, making transferring between bus and train services smoother and easier.”

She says more morning services and shorter waits between services (under an hour) emerged as two key themes from feedback and passengers should notice these improvements across the network.

Printable timetables for each route are available online and full printed timetables can be picked up from the BUSIT counter at the Hamilton Transport Centre on request from Monday, 15 January.

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