GRAPHIC: ODT A district councillor feels sooner is better to to introduce public transport services to the Upper Clutha, but a full service of eight trips a day may not be available for more than a decade. The Queenstown Lakes District Council’s preferred option includes stops in Hāwea, Albert Town, Northlake, Wānaka town centre, Three Parks and Wānaka lakefront. An indicative timeline presented at a full council workshop earlier this week suggested the launch of the Upper Clutha service could be as soon as 2028 but service improvements of up to eight trips a day might not be available until 2037. Public transport possibilities in the Queenstown Lakes District included a six-stop service in Upper Clutha, councillors heard. The documents presented on Tuesday outlined a desired vision of transport for the district’s long term plan. The same transport-related problems now seen in Wakatipu were beginning to emerge in Wānaka, the presentation said. ‘‘Congestion, travel timeline reliability, parking demand will all present as problematic within 10 years.’’ A sub-regional network connecting Wānaka, Queenstown, Cromwell, Clyde and Alexandra was also presented. Quentin Smith. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Deputy mayor Quentin Smith, of Wānaka, said there was an ‘‘appetite from councillors to be fairly aggressive in the need for transport infrastructure’’. Although he felt ‘‘the sooner the better’’ for public transport in the Upper Clutha there was a need to understand the impacts it might have on the community. ‘‘We need to know how much it’s going to cost to deliver that service. ‘‘There was acknowledgement that there was a series of smaller projects that need to be delivered and prioritised as well in that programme and there was an appetite to be aggressive in the delivery in that, knowing that small things can make a difference in the network,’’ he said. evie.sinclair@odt.co.nz
