The survey was intended to gather some of the perceptions car commuters hold about the bus service.
Only 28 forms were returned and the survey's scientific veracity is something a transport researcher could probably drive a bus through.
But it did provide a view of buses from the car commuter's point of view.
FOURTEEN OF THE 28 RESPONDERS MENTIONED BUS FARES.
• St Clair Park: "It's probably cheaper to take my car and pay for a park."
• Mosgiel: "Car pooling is cheaper and more convenient."
• Musselburgh: "I would use them every day if they were cheaper than my fuel bill. It doesn't cost me $28 a week for petrol."
• Andersons Bay: "It's cheaper for two of us to travel by car than pay for three zones each way."
• Wakari: "Lower the fares. $4.40 a day is too much to pay when I can drive for less."
• Mosgiel: "I could not afford to get the bus return trip home, as it was so expensive. I did the crunching of numbers. No way."
• Central City: "If my car was more of a gas-guzzler, then I would use the bus."
TWELVE HAD COMMENTS ON THE COMFORT OF BUSES, THE DRIVERS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TO DO WITH THE BUSES.
• Tainui: "[Buses are] far from environmentally friendly, as my small car does not belch black smoke all over the city. Public transport should be the core of a city. It's a shame our buses are so dirty and expensive."
• Warrington: "Should not be allowed to have large buses on the main street."
• Wingatui: "I wish the buses here weren't so filthy in terms of air pollution. They are awful. We need electric buses."
• Wakari: "Drivers with better knowledge of services and better customer relations [required]."
• Company Bay: "We need solar or electric powered hop-on, hop-off buses doing a city circuit. I would rather catch a water taxi."
• Musselburgh: "Wouldn't mind if the drivers were a bit smoother with the stops and starts. Quite uncomfortable after a hard day at work."
• Fairfield: "It is relaxing; more so than driving. Better for health and wellbeing."
• St Clair: "Tidy and good service [required]."
• Andersons Bay: "Time to read, contemplate, let someone else do the driving. Unfortunately, can't choose your passenger. It's a lucky dip."
• Warrington: "Terrible driving."
• Ocean Grove: "Cold."
TEN MENTIONED FREQUENCY/CONVENIENCE.
• Ocean Grove: "More frequency (required); more like Wellington, where I never drive."
• Warrington: "Too difficult. Doesn't fit with work times."
• Wingatui: "Only one bus each morning from Wingatui. Useless."
• Wakari: "More regular [services] at the end of the day [required]."
• Central City: "The bus system in Dunedin is a catch 22. If more people used it, it would be cheaper and run to a better schedule, but until both those things are achieved, I won't use it unless I have to."
• Dalmore: "Dunedin's bus service seems to be extraordinarily crowded in the centre of town but a bit patchy in many suburbs."
• Musselburgh: "Dunedin is fighting an uphill battle to get more people to use buses. Taking your car to work is too easy."
• Andersons Bay: "Pretty good service during working hours. It amazes me that people drive their cars to town and then have a 10- or 15-minute walk to their work. They don't seem to like the idea of walking to and from a bus stop."
EIGHT MENTIONED BUS STOPS.
• Concord: "It is not convenient waiting in the rain. A closer stop to work [required]."
• Warrington: "Bus company refuses to service Coast Rd and therefore Seacliff and Warrington do not have a bus service."
• Ocean Grove: "Twenty minutes to walk uphill (to bus stop)."
• Kew: "Too cold waiting at bus stop."
SEVEN MENTIONED TRAVELLING TIME.
• Company Bay: "Long. Doesn't exactly go by a direct route. Goes Andersons Bay Rd, not Portsmouth Dr."
• Mosgiel: "Takes too long to get to work by bus, 45min. Only 20min by car."
• Burnside: "Took longer to get to work and home than driving."
FIVE REFERRED TO BUSES BEING LATE.
• St Clair Park: "I have heard at times they never show up."
• Andersons Bay: "Trip in is always fine. Trip home, the bus seldom arrives on time."
• Green Island: "I had to stand around for ages waiting."
ONE REFERRED TO THE TIMETABLE.
• St Clair Park: "Make the bus timetable easier to read. It really puts me off."
The survey also asked when commuters had last used a bus and what sort of experience that was.
• Andersons Bay: "Today. Good."
• St Clair: "Christmas Eve. Trip OK. Clean tidy bus."
• Company Bay: "Just before Christmas. Long."
• Andersons Bay: "Mid-December. Half an hour on a different route than I would normally take."
• Andersons Bay: "Late last year. I had to wait 30mins."
• Central City: "November. It was fine. No drama."
• Wakari: "Three months ago. Late."
• Mosgiel: "Three months ago. Long."
• Ocean Grove: "Three months ago. Good but infrequent buses. It was cold and not reliable."
• Musselburgh: "Three months ago. Good in the morning. Horrible after work due to the many stops and starts."
• St Clair Park: "August. Just an average bus trip."
• Burnside: "Mid-last year. Bus ran late."
• Green Island: "Last year. Slow."
• Tomahawk: "Last year. Fine."
• Wingatui: "A year ago. Unremarkable."
• Mosgiel: "One year ago. A good trip, good service, two choices of transport home, express or normal bus route. No complaints apart from cost."
• Tainui: "Two and a-half years ago. Expensive and the bus arrived 10mins late."
• Concord: "Three years ago. Fine."
• Kew: "A few years ago. Unpleasant. Filled with school children."
• Central City: "Ten years ago. Fine. Just the usual trip on a bus."
• Warrington: "Twenty years ago. Can't remember."
• Warrington: "Years ago. Can't remember."
• Waitati: "Once. Experience for my children."
