Concern over use of substitute buses
A BUS advocacy group says it is ‘‘disappointing’’ a contractor used replacement buses without wheelchair access or bike racks on public routes in Dunedin.
The Otago Regional Council said earlier this week five vehicles were in service in the city which were not fully compliant with requirements which the council had set.
This was because of a ‘‘variety of unrelated mechanical issues’’ with the standard fleet of Ritchies buses.
The council yesterday said the issues had been addressed and the compliant vehicles were back in service.
Bus Users Support Group Otepoti Dunedin copresident Alex King said of the noncompliant vehicles, at least one did not have disability access and many did not have bicycle racks.
‘‘The great thing about the new system is that it has 100% coverage for carrying bikes and it’s 100% accessible. It’s disappointing that in these instances that’s not the case.’’
The vehicle without disability access was a longdistance coach with steps which were ‘‘completely unusable’’ for people in wheelchairs, he said.
While bike racks were lacking in only ‘‘a few instances’’, it led to a lack of consistency and trust which would result in people not using buses, he said.
He said while the replacements were ‘‘better than nothing, ‘‘we expect the council to only accept contractors that have backups’’.
‘‘They need to have spare capacity, because mechanical failures do happen.’’
Ritchies would not comment on the situation, instead directing questions to the council.
Council support services manager Gerard Collings said it worked closely with Ritchies to ensure there were no service interruptions.
‘‘One of the benefits of having larger operators running our public transport service in Dunedin is that we’re not left unable to run the service in these kind of circumstances.’’
The council did not answer questions addressing the bus group’s concerns or regarding whether it directed Ritchies to make changes.