Five people were left behind at Whatawhata on Friday by the Raglan bus on its way into Hamilton. Those left behind included 75-year-old May Clark who had to walk over a kilometre along rural roads back to her home. A family member then had to drive her to work.
Over 200 passengers have signed a petition demanding urgent changes to the service and will be attending a public meeting on the issue next week in Raglan.
The overcrowding has become worse this year, driven by more students using the service and fuel price increases.
Listening to community concerns from frustrated bus users has seen the Raglan Community Board arrange a public meeting to let people have a say about the problems.
Board Chairperson Rodger Gallagher said that recent articles in the NZ Herald and Waikato Times had just confirmed what the Board had been hearing since school recommenced this year. Due to the concerns about inadequate capacity, safety and overloading on the Raglan bus the meeting has been called to hear all the concerns and see what options are available to solve the problems. Councillors and representatives from Waikato District Council and Waikato Regional will be present to listen to the Raglan community and give an update on the current position. The meeting will be chaired by Clint Baddeley, Councillor Waikato District, Raglan Ward.
The meeting on the Raglan Bus Service will be at the Raglan Town Hall, Bow St, Raglan on 7pm Wednesday 4th April.
Last week I attended a Raglan Chamber of Commerce meeting in which they invited the Mayor of Otorohanga, Dale Williams to speak and motivate the group on how a Council can make things happen. Well he did mention that the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Act 2010 (“the Act”).was a driving force that his community embraced, so I did some research and found that the most significant changes to the Act are:.
Focus on Core Business
Section 5 inserts new section 11A which requires Councils to have particular regard to the contribution of core services. The core services listed are:
• network infrastructure;
• public transport services;
• solid waste collection and disposal;
• the avoidance of mitigation of natural hazards; and
• libraries, museums, reserves, recreational facilities, and other community infrastructure.
Public transport is a Core Business which includes Raglan Service.
The Act also includes Performance Measures for Core Services
This is as I see it as one of the most important changes made by the Act is the requirement that the Secretary for Local Government provide regulations that establish rules specifying performance measures for water supply; sewerage treatment/disposal; stormwater; flood protection and the provision of roads and footpaths and public transport services (Section 42).
These performance measures are applicable to all local authorities including WDC.
There is a new requirement for councils to achieve ‘plain English’ financial reporting, so that ratepayers can better understand what they are paying for, and how.
Councils are required to include funding impact statements on their plans and reports, showing the sources and applications of funds for the whole council and for each group of activities.
I look forward to the councils reports on the current issue of Raglan Bus service.
Hope those performance measures will in future highlight passengers left behind. WRC/ Busit doesn’t seem to be aware of this happening until they get an ‘official’ complaint.