Bus network gets the smarts

New Plymouth's public transport network today got smarter.

The Taranaki Regional Council and its contractor Tranzit Coachlines launched improvements giving the city more coverage and commuters shorter trips and waiting times.

SmartCard electronic ticketing was also rolled out across the entire network, including Council-contracted school buses.

"Today's changes are the result of repeated calls by New Plymouth people, and the New Plymouth District Council, for a better bus service," says the Taranaki Regional Council Chairman, David MacLeod.

"We heard those calls, and won funding support from the NZ Transport Agency to make these improvements. Now New Plymouth's public transport is on a par with those in other similar-sized centres."

The improvements launched today include:

• Nine new commuter routes to replace the previous four urban routes.
• Increased capacity, now 500 seats a day, up from 380.
• Shorter, more direct services which cut the average time for a complete journey from 40 minutes to around 30 minutes.
• Buses on urban routes now travelling every 40 minutes in peak time or 70 minutes, off-peak.
• The inclusion of new areas such as Whalers Gate, Ferndale and Glen Avon.
• Services six-days-a-week to The Valley.
• Streamlined urban schoolbus services including two-way orbiters covering all New Plymouth secondary and intermediate schools.
• SmartCard electronic ticketing on all buses, with commuter 10-trip tickets and term and yearly school-bus passes being phased out.
• A dedicated commuter service from Oakura to the Ariki St Bus Centre in New Plymouth.
• Mr MacLeod says the Taranaki Regional Council has been working closely with Tranzit Coachlines and the New Plymouth District Council to deliver the changes.

"There'll be a review in 2012 to ensure the new service is delivering value for money, so the message is simple: Use it or lose it."

Mr MacLeod says fares are rising to ensure bus users pay a fair share of the increased costs. The Government's share of funding for the improvements came with this expectation, and in the medium term the Council is required to recover at least 50% of costs.

"Apart from a minor adjustment in 2007, this is the first increase since 2005 and the new fares are still significantly cheaper than running a car on a similar trip, especially with the discount offered to SmartCard users," he says.

"We are aware that for some parents, particularly in Waitara and Oakura, the fare increase and the phasing out of term and year passes represents a significant rise in costs. We are investigating options which recognise frequent users of school buses and I'm hopeful that we will be able to introduce a discount scheme for them in the third term."

In the meantime, existing term passes will be honoured until the end of Term 2, and yearly passes will be honoured until the end of 2010.

For details of all new routes and timetables, see www.taranakibus.info.