Just who are the buses for?

Photo: ODT files
Photo: ODT files

From time to time there arises a perplexing situation which seems to beggar belief and run contrary to any ideas of common sense.

So it is with the Otago Regional Council and its high-handedness over providing some Dunedin bus passengers with the service they require. Or not providing it.

The council has taken an intractable approach to introducing a better bus route for Tahuna Normal Intermediate School pupils and those at Bayfield, King's and Queen's High Schools who live on the Otago Peninsula.

Go Bus stopped providing contracted school-bus services last year. As a result, about 120 pupils from the peninsula have to use the No 18 bus and some then have to walk a couple of kilometres to get to school.

If the enforced walk to school was in a quieter part of the city, we could be less sympathetic towards the pupils and their aggrieved parents. But in this case, while the walk itself is not that onerous, it is along very busy streets without pedestrian crossings. This is especially concerning for the younger pupils at Tahuna and it is easy to see why parents are nervous about them having to cross such roads at rush hour and with dark winter mornings ahead.

Nobody reasonably expects the council to provide a bus service that is perfect for everyone. But nobody should have to walk for more than five or 10 minutes to get to their closest bus stop.

What grates is the council's attitude to the community over this issue. Efforts by parents and schools to engage with the council and attempt a reconsideration appear to have been dismissed offhandedly or in arrogant fashion.

Macandrew Bay parent Jason Graham has been highlighting the drawbacks of the current bus route and trying to find a way around the impasse. He proposed two alternatives to the council to cut the length of the walk to Tahuna, but these were turned down by councillors last month.

In response, councillor and Otago regional transport committee chairman Trevor Kempton has hinted the council might consider changing the timetable to better suit the pupils but stopped short of saying route changes might be discussed.

Parents, school representatives and others endeavoured to take their petition of about 800 signatures to a full regional council meeting in Cromwell on Tuesday. But they were rebuffed because the council mistakenly thought the group wanted to repeat its request for route alterations. Instead they were asked to come back to the May 2 meeting.

Bizarrely, a glimmer of hope for their cause had been given by a council spokeswoman, who said chief executive Sarah Gardner and chairman Stephen Woodhead were meeting principals and board of trustees representatives from the schools on Tuesday. She told the ODT it would be ''worthwhile to await the outcome of this meeting''.

The outcome of the meeting? Go whistle Dixie.

Mr Graham says the petition reflects ''a lot of frustration, disappointment and anger'' and the council ''can't just keep sweeping this under the carpet''. An online survey he ran showed peninsula parents were not planning on using the No 18 bus next term.

After the council - presumably inadvertently - raised false hopes of progress at Tuesday's meeting, Tahuna Normal principal Tony Hunter declared ''the game is just beginning''.

The council has itself to blame for getting offside with and angering an increasingly large number of ratepayers. Who are councillors actually working for? This would appear to be a case of the tail wagging the dog.

One wonders how many regional councillors use the buses frequently. In fact, how many have ever used a bus?

There are clearly solutions. But the council's intractability is a major concern and borders on bloody-mindedness.

The council needs an injection of common sense and a slap on the wrist with a not-so-wet bus ticket.

Comments

The ongoing incompetence of ORC chief executive Sarah Gardner and chairman Stephen Woodhead, to fix a simple problem, is undeniable.

The only question is if the inability to do their job and fix a simple problem is willful.

Either way, they should both step aside for someone who has the ability sort out simple problems.

If diesel costs to the peninsula are a concern, then how about a transfer bus between schools and No 18 bus stops.

There is more to this than meets the eye - in fact, the impending privatisation of public transport where the user will have to pay for everything. The Otago Regional Council is bound by 'public transport operating models' controlled to a large extent by the NZ Land Transport Authority https://nzta.govt.nz/about-us/about-the-nz-transport-agency/our-senior-l...
(whose Regional Relationships South Island Director is Jim Harland, ex-DCC CE) The PTOM provides for greater industry input into public transport. At the same time, one bus company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchies_Coachlines
is gaining close to a monopoly in NZ bus transport of all kinds, school bus runs and the lucrative tourism market because the present legal public transport favours the big guys who can bid cheaper and then, after getting the public transport contracts, will literally not go the extra mile because they are all about making a profit, not providing a service. Communities miss out on both good jobs and good services. But still pay and pay more and more, to a high-level, high-pay manager top- heavy system - via central government taxation. Law changes about public transport are needed.

Very very well said ODT. Thank you! Peninsula families are understandably very frustrated and angry at the refusal of the ORC to seriously consider the simple re route and minor timetable adjustment to meet the needs of the young commuter community - who it is supposed to listen to!
The safety of students must come first. Please keep media attention on this. Their inability to resolve this and their refusal to work with the affected parties is arrogant and unbelievable.

The ORC stance brings back memories of the passenger rail service down the S Island. Run the service down, don't invest, make sure passengers can't use it and then clain there is no market and close it down. Brilliant in it's lack of foresight.