Funding hopes after success of bus service

Ian Griffin
Ian Griffin
After the success of a free bus loop around Dunedin during the last school holidays the Otago Museum will ask the Dunedin City Council to fund the service long term.

The museum ran and paid for a free inner-city bus  service during the July school holidays.

The service was provided by the Dunedin Heritage Bus Society and travelled from the Dunedin Botanic Garden past the Otago Museum and Toitu Early Settlers Museum,  through the Octagon and back past the Otago Museum, finishing at the botanic garden.

It was in response to a reduction in parking because of the construction of one-way cycle paths and and increase in complaints from visitors about the lack of parking.

Otago Museum director Ian Griffin said the trial was "very successful".

"An average of about 70 people rode it every day."

The museum would  write a report on the trial and present it to the Dunedin City Council.

"Hopefully, one of the results of that will be they might consider funding it."

There was a "good case" for the service running on holidays and when cruise ships visited the city, he said.

The museum could not afford to fund the service itself.

A city council spokeswoman said it would assess the proposal once it received the report.

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