Public transport plans shelved

by RUAIRI O'SHEA (ruairi.oshea@alliedmedia.co.nz)

A proposed Wanaka to Hawea shuttle has been shelved due to difficulties funding the project. In May, Community Link told the Wanaka Sun that a peaktime shuttle service could be launched within weeks, but having surveyed the community and failed to find partners willing to support the service, the plan has been set aside.

Community Link released a survey asking residents questions like where and when a shuttle would need to stop and how much they would pay to use it, but it became clear that the charity could not effectively meet the diverse needs of the community with a peak-time service, or offer a broader a service with its limited resources.

Community Link general manager Kate Murray said “we had great feedback but the message was that the service would need to be regular, consistent and ongoing, and it was pretty obvious that it would take more than one vehicle to meet that need”.

Unable to provide the type of service needed by the community, Community Link pivoted, setting up a foodbank in Lake Hawea for residents struggling to make it to Wanaka’s supermarkets.

While running the survey, Community Link tried — unsuccessfully — to find supporters to make the service financially viable, drawing the conclusion it would not be possible without government support.

“Some of the feedback we got [in research community transport services] was that community transport doesn’t make money anywhere in the country, so for it to be sustained and consistent, it has to have some government support,” Ms Murray said.

There is an important distinction to make between community transport schemes such as the one proposed by Community Link, and public transport, which is the responsibility of Otago Regional Council.

The Upper Clutha has no forms of public transport and Community Link’s proposed service sought to fill the gap until public transport was up and running in the area.

In Otago Regional Council’s Regional Public Transport Plan 2025-2035, the development of a publicly funded bus service in Wanaka is described as an ‘‘aspiration’’ that is ‘‘subject to funding and further study’’ with a proposed time horizon for the public transport service of 2031-2036.

In March, Otago Regional Council staff recommended to councillors they establish a contestable fund to support community transport schemes such as those proposed by Community Link, but councillors removed language around funding, deferring a decision on how community transport would be supported financially until further planning had been undertaken.

Queenstown Lakes District deputy mayor Quentin Smith, said Community Link’s decision as “understandable”.

A small-scale community transport service would be unlikely to have a dramatic effect on the area, with a “bigger game at play” in the form of public transport, he said.

In April, Cr Smith told the Wanaka Sun the council and the community board had advocated for Otago Regional Council to take steps towards developing a business case for public transport for the area, which would “hopefully bring public transport to Wanaka much earlier than that 2036 time horizon’’.

The problem was that growing demand would continue to go unmet until then.

“The demand is not going away and its only growing as the population is growing,” Ms Murray said.

“If the cost of living continues to grow and if there isn’t a resolution to the global situation causing fuel prices to rise, then that drumbeat is only going to get stronger.”

Original article: https://digital.thewanakasun.co.nz/html5/default.aspx

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/wanaka/community-transport-plans-shelved