Bus meeting told about big increase in passenger numbers

Monday’s bus meeting held in the Raglan Town Hall was told about big increases in passenger numbers on Bus Service 23 between Raglan and Hamilton by Waikato regional Council bus expert, Andrew Wilson.

Mr Wilson told the meeting that, “Raglan bus loadings are now at 60,397 (plus the Sunday loadings on the Raglan Chamber of Commerce service.)” This means they have risen to 60,397 from 24,392 in 2003/4 to 31,133 in 2010/11, when the last contract was let.

Alan Vink, Chair of the Raglan Community Board asked, “If we improve the bus service, do you think it’s possible to get people out of their cars given that this hasn’t happened to any significant degree anywhere else in NZ that I am aware of?”.

Public transport advocate John Lawson said, “Despite patronage rising 250% and despite the 2002 survey that showed people wanted more frequent services, we now have a rather poorer service than we had in 2003.”

RCB Member Kelly Clarkson suggested a survey along the lines of the one done by District Council and Whaingaroa Environment Centre in 2002. John Lawson said this would answer many of the questions asked at the meeting. He believed that a new survey was needed as since 2002, there had been a major increase in bus patronage and Raglan had become an even more popular tourist destination.

It has been pointed out to RCB that they held Tuesday’s bus meeting at a time that most regular bus users could not attend the meeting. Kelly made it clear that RCB intended yesterday’s meeting to be preliminary, so they hadn’t done much publicity, or timed it to suit potential bus passengers. She has said, “We will have notes from the workshop available and where to next from here. This was really a starting point meeting and we expect robust community consultation moving forward – at which point a public workshop (at a time suitable to the majority of bus users) will be made.”