Residents out in cold

Co-founder of the City Rise Up community group Meg Davidson is "outraged" bus shelters have been removed, before next week’s Otago Regional Council vote over a discontinued section of bus route.

Elsewhere, in Green Island, local resident and bus user Bill Grigg (70) has welcomed the installation of a new bus shelter  in Main South Rd, on the west side of the suburb.

"I appreciate this shelter" and it provided welcome protection from the winter elements, Mr Grigg said.

But older citizens would also like a bench to sit on, he said.

At a council finance and corporate committee meeting on June 14, councillors voted six to four in favour of a recommendation to the council that the Canongate, Russell St and Arthur St areas were not reincluded in the nearby bus route.

A report tabled at the committee said  staff had  deferred "placement of new bus infrastructure on Rattray St and the removal of existing infrastructure on the old route, until council makes a decision on this matter".

Ms Davidson said the council had recently surveyed residents about the bus service.

Their comments were not available to councillors when they voted on June 14 but were to be provided to interested councillors.

The full council meeting next Wednesday  could decide to change the earlier recommendation, and the two bus shelters — in Russell and Arthur Sts — should not have been removed.

"It’s completely preempted the council’s decision," she said.

Russell St resident Jessie Forslind (85) said the previous bus service was "wonderful"; she was upset with the removal of the  bus shelter in her street and had decided to use taxis instead.

Approached for comment, council support services manager Gerard Collings said he did not agree  the  shelters had been removed prematurely and said this had "definitely not" preempted any full council decision. The finance and corporate committee had authority to deal with public transport issues.

Mr Collings appreciated that some people were "passionate about the [public transport] service", but the council was going along "a path of change" and "some people will not be happy".

In an "ideal world", if sufficient money was available, he would like buses "running on every street every 10 minutes" but that was not the case, and the regional council was implementing  plans to provide faster, more direct bus routes, he said.

The Green Island bus shelter was  temporary  and it was not intended to provide a seat  until the full Green Island superstop was  finalised, he said.

Bus Go bus users group co-president Alex King said it was "really unfortunate" that the bus shelters had been removed in Russell and Arthur Sts and a "very active community" there would keep trying to improve their bus service.

Mr King welcomed the temporary bus shelter, and said the Greater Green Island Community Network had  long been seeking that. It had been a "long wait",  given that the Green Island transfer stop had been running since mid-2015.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz