Bus concerns put to council

Concerns about the human and social cost of reorganising Dunedin’s bus routes and the planned central bus hub have surfaced at a community forum.

Andrew Noone.

At a forum before an Otago Regional Council meeting this week, presentations were  made supporting reincluding the Arthur St, Russell St and Canongate section of the No 19 Belleknowes to Waverley route.

These areas were removed from the route last year as part of continuing reorganisation of bus transport in the city and the Belleknowes off-peak bus frequency was reduced from half-hourly to hourly.

Concerns were  voiced at the forum about the need to be more careful about changes to bus stops, including for Mosgiel passengers.

And representatives of bus users group Bus Go suggested new bus stops be added to southern Moray Pl, and to Moray Pl near the  library to avoid passengers being inconvenienced by the loss of  bus stops in and near the Octagon after the hub is established later this year.

Council officials have previously said they were sympathetic to the idea of establishing a  stop in the southern Moray Pl area.

Cr Andrew Noone yesterday acknowledged concerns raised by bus users in the City Rise area and said the council faced the challenge that the new hub  and  more direct bus routes were still being implemented.

He  accepted there were challenges in balancing the need for quicker more direct routes which might attract  new customers and the needs of existing customers.

And in future the council needed to find "creative" and more nimble ways of meeting community needs, accepting that the council could not please everybody.

Cr Noone recently served as a member of a public hearing panel over a  proposal to reconnect Concord bus users with Green Island after the service was cut when the more direct southern routes began in 2015.

Belleknowes resident Ann McWhirter said  reincluding the Canongate, Russell St, Arthur St area could be made "as a trial" until the routes changed again with the introduction of the hub.

The reinclusion could be made without any "major expenditure".

The Otago Southland Land Transport Plan 2015-2021 said that one of the  transport system’s main aims was to meet "social needs", and  the Public Transport Plan stated that "people are the reason for travel", she said.

Mosgiel resident Lynne Hill has previously opposed the closing of a bus stop outside the Centre City supermarket when the central hub starts running.

Mrs Hill said  decisions about bus route changes and bus stop removals were "not being achieved in a transparent manner", and were "being imposed" without adequate consultation.

"Social concerns" were not being taken sufficiently into account and the change in bus route stops was "adversely affecting the elderly, those with limited mobility, and those using strollers and walking frames".

john.gibb@odt.co.nz