The Otago Regional Council discussed public transport at its monthly meeting in Balclutha this week, with the fuel shortage front and centre.
Statistic showed Dunedin bus patronage for the first half of 2025-26 was 1,728,936 trips — a decrease of 0.5% from the same period last year.
Dunedin fare revenue for the corresponding period was $2,300,106, an increase of 11%, driven by a 50c increase in most bus fares.
Queenstown bus patronage for the same period was 1,031,075 trips — an increase of 6% from the same period over 2024-25.
Queenstown fare revenue for the corresponding period was $1,847,171, an increase of 19%.
Council regional planning and transport manager Anita Dawe said there had been an increase in passengers over the past few weeks of about 4% in Dunedin as petrol prices increased and people look at cutting costs. Exact data for Queenstown was not available
She was expecting more people to use public transport and was confident there was enough capacity in the system to cope. School buses were at capacity.
In Dunedin, the bus fleet was made up of 30% electric buses, but the Queenstown fleet was run on diesel, which had risen considerably in cost. Operators had told the council they were in a reasonably comfortable position around fuel.
Council chief executive Richard Saunders said if measures around rationing or prioritising fuel were introduced then public transport would be seen as a critical service and should have access to fuel. It was important to keep in contact with operators.
He said there may be a risk if more buses were needed as buses on popular routes were full at critical times.
He was asking central government to provide funding should they have to put on more services.
Cr Kate Wilson said work could be done on trying to get people on to buses at different times and areas which were not so busy.
‘‘We have got limited capacity at 8.30am. Shouldn’t we be advertising better hours to spread that capacity?’’ she said.
She said it could be time to look at routes which would help people out of their car and into public transport.
‘‘This is an opportunity to test some routes that we all know and make sense — Outram to Middlemarch, through to Mosgiel, bring Balclutha into it, Cromwell to Queenstown. That may give an opportunity to trial things and alleviate the use of petrol in the meantime.’’
Deputy chairman Kevin Malcolm said he and others were meeting Transport Minister Chris Bishop in Wellington in the second week of May to discuss transport options, the RMA and local government changes.
Mr Saunders said ministers had taken some advice from Ministry of Transport officials and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi on what steps may be taken around fuel rationing. They were waiting to hear back from them.
Meanwhile, the council supported extending the community transport trial in Oamaru until October this year, a six month extension.
The Oamaru trial was the council’s first entry into community transport, which is a not-for-profit transport service funded and operated by local organisations to improve transport access in areas where traditional public transport is not feasible.
This trial connecting Oamaru and other areas has been well supported by Oamaru people, with 210 people making 136 trips in its first four months.
