Busit has been providing an additional bus service to Raglan over the last few weeks, as the afternoon Hamilton East Schools to Te Uku bus has been continuing on to Raglan:
Depart 3.25 Hamilton East Schools to Te Uku Arrive 4.25 and then on to Raglan.
Busit says, “At the moment, the Te Uku bus continues on to Raglan. This is not an official route as the interim driver resides in Raglan and is taking the bus home. The driver is leaving any passengers remaining on the bus as a courtesy only. The Waikato Regional Council (EW) is not being charged for this courtesy trip however we are unsure how long this will continue.”
John Lawson said, “This strange situation of ‘courtesy trips’ gets back to the lack of funding I’ve raised before and why they won’t take account of the extra fares they’re getting from the overcrowded (10 were standing from Waitetuna to Hamilton on Monday morning) buses.” John said he has made a submission to the WDC Annual Plan asking for additional bus subsidy money for Raglan.
Our mayor says he doesn’t see why ratepayers should be subsidising buses so much. Fair enough, until you look at the amount ratepayers are roading; almost half our rates and of that only 1.6% goes to buses, even though over 8% of Raglan households don’t have a car.