As of yesterday morning, about 55 hard copy feedback forms had been provided and more than 130 online form responses had been made. Submissions close today. Nearly 300 people attended an explanatory exhibition and drop-in sessions about bus hub design options, held at the Dunedin City Council’s Civic Centre lobby, between December 5 and December 12. It is understood several submissions have supported proposed real time displays of bus arrival and departure information.
ORC support services manager Gerard Collings was yesterday "really pleased" with the public interest shown, and by the number of people who had made detailed responses.
The ORC said feedback about the proposed hub, in Great King St, near the central police station, would be studied next month and in February.
ORC staff would work to "refine the materials and facilities" to incorporate the "Dunedin community voice" into the final design.
Hub design would be completed between February and April, and construction to take place from April to June.
Testing of the new hub area would be undertaken in July, to check for "operational snags", and the hub was projected to start running in August. Bus user support group Bus Go co-president Alex King said he would rate the ORC’s community consultation process eight out of 10 for its efforts to explain its proposed plans to the public and to gain community feedback.
But he would have preferred the public consultation had been longer, giving people more chance to respond.
He believed people using the proposed bus hub should be protected from the weather by overhead cover of footpaths on both sides of the street.
