Wanaka's Connexions bus company will continue its operations today and retain local ownership after the confirmed sale of the business, ending fears the service would be lost to the community and up to 15 staff made redundant.
Wanaka man Peter King yesterday confirmed he had bought the business and would be retaining most of its scheduled routes. Mr King is also a director of Alpine Coachlines, which runs bus services to the Wanaka skifields, Wanaka Airport and Mt Aspiring National Park. The two businesses would operate alongside each other, Mr King said.
Connexions' previous owner, Invercargill Passenger Transport, last week informed its employees it would be closing the operation on June 30 and staff would be made redundant. However, discussions with several transport providers had been held since then, before Mr King made the sale agreement with IPT yesterday.
It would be "business as usual" today, with the exception of a couple of route changes, he said.
The Wanaka and Queenstown airport link would be increased from three to four runs daily, while the Wanaka to Invercargill and early Dunedin to Wanaka runs would be dropped.
All the Wanaka and Cromwell staff who had been made redundant by the planned closure would keep their positions with Connexions. Two Queenstown drivers had already found other work, Mr King said.
He praised the Connexions employees for the support and positivity they had shown during what had been an uncertain time for them.
"They've been absolutely amazing and very loyal to me as a local operator."
Mr King was particularly excited about taking on Connexions' Track and Trail service to the Taieri Gorge Railway and the Otago Central Rail Trail, which had "a lot of potential".
IPT managing director Tony Baas said he was pleased to be handing over the reins to Mr King. "I'm sure that Peter and his team will provide a really high level of service."
