Nigel Bowen, the Canterbury Mayoral Forum chairperson and Timaru Mayor, made the trip north to talk forum business at a recent Ashburton District Council meeting, only to be quizzed on public transport.
He was asked about how the MyWay trial of on-demand buses had fared in Timaru.
“It’s absolutely amazing. The challenge with it is it has a higher cost,” he told them.
“It’s so successful that everyone wants to pick it up across the country, and it's going to add a cost from the national funding but also the local rates funding. It’s a great model and if you had something similar here I’m sure it would be well picked up.”
The grilling of Bowen on public transport followed a recent council discussion around the growing demand for public transport in Ashburton.
A lack of public transport has been identified as a major barrier for youth, migrants and the elderly. Whether the council has a desire to fund it could be part of the upcoming long-term plan (LTP) conversations.
But he warned evidence shows public transport requires significant ratepayer subsidy.
“I requested they work with us on investigating and seeing if there is a need for public transport – of what description I don’t know – in Ashburton town, so we have planted that seed.”
The regional council is “open-minded and happy to facilitate it”, ECan councillor Ian Mackenzie said.
“When they come to us saying this is what we would like, ECan would go back with the costs and funding models.”
Brown said whatever option the district comes up with there will need to be “some innovative ways of how it would work and how it would be funded”.
“What Christchurch has is not going to work here and what Timaru has down there is probably not going to work here. It needs to be some real thought and discussion around it and that’s what we have asked to have with Ecan.”
Councillor Carolyn Cameron had raised the issue of a lack of public transportation impacting migrant communities, the elderly and youth in Ashburton as a big concern.
“I don’t know what the answer is to that but I think it is something we do need to address,” Cameron said.
It is not the first time it has been raised, as councillor Lynette Lovett said the issue pops up every year.
Lovett proposed looking at a localised option, seeking a local transport company to get a mini-bus and do a trial, but also questioned: “Is it worth us doing something in this space?”
Any option will require ratepayer subsidy, Brown said.
“The one thing we do know is it will not sustain itself,” he said.
Neither ECan nor the council have money budgeted for anything to be trialled so public transport in Ashburton continues to be a conversation with ECan, chief executive Hamish Riach said.
“There is no trial to run with the public sector without a financial contribution from somewhere, that’s how public transport works.
“Until there is a desire for a public contribution financially it will continue not to happen."
What’s it going to cost?
The annual operating cost of the MyWay on-demand service in Timaru is $2.7 million, made up of $1.1 million from rates, $1.3 million from Waka Kotahi grants, and $250,000 from fare revenue.
On top of that is the additional costs for supporting services such as IT systems, marketing, and contract management, an ECan spokesperson said.
Ashburton had requested to be part of the MyWay trial but ECan wanted to undertake the trial in a bigger urban centre that already had public transport.
“Our intention was always to trial the service in Timaru first, however, disruptions due to Covid have made analysis challenging. We will continue to monitor and assess the Timaru trial before we consider similar services elsewhere,” an ECan spokesperson said.
ECan operates public transport in the region, with bus routes centred around greater Christchurch and in Timaru - which has the MyWay bus trial, and properties in those zones are rated for the service.
Figures in ECan’s annual plan 2023/24 show that the public transport contribution from rates is around $48 million - as well as $54.1 million from Waka Kotahi/ NZ Transport Agency and fare revenue is forecast to be $10.2 million.
Without a public transport service, Ashburton District ratepayers do not contribute.
Mid Canterbury’s only form of public transport is the Mid Canterbury connector service. Run by the Community Vehicle Trust network, it is a volunteer-driven vehicle linking rural locations including Methven and Rakaia to each other and Ashburton for a small fee.
The connector is funded by ECan and Waka Kotahi - about $10,000 annually - and is rated to every property outside the Ashburton township boundary at $1.17 per rating unit and is a total of $5000.
- By Jonathan Leask
Local Democracy Reporter
