March 1 bus service changes loom

Changes to Whangarei’s CityLink public bus service – including dropping a number of seldom-used trips – will take effect in a little over a fortnight’s time.


The planned March 1 changes were announced by the Northland Regional Council a month ago and stem from regular reviews designed to ensure the service runs as efficiently as possible, both operationally and financially.


The review process had included an analysis of passenger numbers over the past 18 months and effectively removes little-used trips carrying three or fewer people at a time. (This mainly affects trips before 7am or after 6pm.)


It will also see Saturday services end after about 2pm and not run at all on public holidays, again due to poor patronage. Similarly, the little-used route between the Central Business District and Okara Park will also be scrapped after carrying on average less than one person per trip.


In other changes from March 1, several peak hour trips will also run anywhere from five to 15 minutes earlier than they do now to try to minimise delays caused by peak hour traffic.


New timetables will be available from bus drivers, libraries and other usual outlets from the middle of next week (subs: Weds 17th Feb). Full details of the changes are already available online via www.nrc.govt.nz/bus