Raglan’s double decker bus, which started running on 29th January, doesn’t fit into its bus stop. The Wainui Road bus stop, just North of the Raglan i-SITE. was designed specially for the double decker bus.
The cost of building the bus stop, its twin on the other side of Wainui Road and the pedestrian island was about $41,000. The bus stop was completed in late 2018. It lay unused until 29th January when Raglan’s morning bus was replaced with the double decker. It appears that on the first day, it was discovered that the bus didn’t fit. So on 30th January, council engineers were on site planning changes so that the bus would be able to fit.
A spokesperson from Waikato District Council said, “The stop on the Stewart St side of Wainui Road is fine but the one on the fire station side of the road needs to be realigned to allow the double decker bus to manoeuvre into the side of the kerb better. The need for this resulted from an error by the design consultants and Council is discussing cost recovery with them.
This work involves some line-marking changes and pushing the kerb out so that passengers are able to disembark from both doors of the bus straight onto the kerb. Currently the set-up does not allow this from both doors of the bus.”
John Lawson, who spotted the council engineers looking at the fix-up work said, “It takes 3 council engineers to work out how to rebuild it so that someone in a wheelchair could easily board the 7am bus”
Waikato District Council says the fix-up work will cost $2500. The line-marking alterations are completed and the kerb and concrete work will follow next week – it should all be finished by mid-February. A temporary bus stop has been provided in the interim outside the Raglan Museum.
Waikato Regional Council, that runs the buses, has now realised that the new bus stop is at a location subject to extreme westerly winds and driving rain. It has asked Waikato District Council to build a bus shelter in Wainui Road. The District Council has confirmed that it has received a letter from the Regional Council about shelters.