Raglan’s Busit Sunday and Public Holiday Route 23 bus will make its last runs on Easter Sunday 31st March and Easter Monday 1st April. But Raglan will still have a bus service on Sundays and Public holidays thanks to a small grant from the Waikato District Council towards the cost of a service administered by the Raglan Chamber of Commerce. At Tuesday’s meeting of the District Council’s Roading committee it was decided to approve a $3,000 grant to the Raglan Chamber of Commerce to administer the new service. The plan is for the chamber to provide a private return Sunday service through a local operator using an 11-seater minibus. The Regional Council will help by publicising the service on its website.
Raglan ward councillor Clint Baddeley said,”this was a local solution to a local problem’. Charlie Young and Stephanie Philp, members of the Raglan Chamber of Commerce attending the meeting, put the case for the local service. Barry Ashby from the Raglan Community Board was also along to support the proposal. A trial service late last year found that the split of users was about 50:50 residents and visitors.
And a Waikato Times Poll indicates strong support for funding a Sunday bus, so the District Council has strong public support for their decision:
Do you think a Sunday bus service from Raglan to Hamilton will help the town’s growth?
Yes, I think it will make a big difference |
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215 votes, 69.8% |
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No, I think the funding should go elsewhere |
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93 votes, 30.2% |
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Total 308 votes on Wednesday 6th February at 4.20pm
I hope $3,000 will allow the Chamber to run the minibus often enough to minimise the risk of leaving passengers behind. The average Sunday load per bus in 2011 was 8 to 9, so an 11 seat minibus will often leave passengers unless it runs more often than the 50 seat bus. WDC only spends about $100,000 a year on the bus, but Raglan’s 1,068 households, pay around $1,000 each in rates for Roading (46% of the General Rate), so must be paying about $1m a year for Roading, ample to cover a higher subsidy, the $150,000 to re-seal Bow St for a second time, more footpaths and other schemes Raglan said it wanted in ‘Raglan Naturally’.
I am very dubious about the stats provided by the Regional Council. The figure of 8 to 9 is an average and suspect. You really need averages, standard deviations, and most importantly peak numbers of travellers to plan a service. WRC has never been able to provide these figures to us.
It is really best for the Raglan Chamber of Commerce to get their service up and going, keep a track of actual users and then see how it goes. $3,000 is the funding till June. The Annual Plan has up to $15,000 proposed for the Sunday and Public holdiay service. Raglan people need to support this proposal, or a higher level of funding, when the plan is open for submissions.