Bus patronage data attracts scepticism

First ghost buses, now claims of ghost numbers.

The council at the centre of Wellington’s bus fiasco says bus patronage was up 17,000 trips this August, compared to August 2017.

‘‘Continuing patronage growth defies the commentators,’’ said Greater Wellington Regional Council.

But after sending out figures on Monday, a council spokesman yesterday conceded those figures included transfers people had to take under the new system.

‘‘We’ve always counted transfers as separate trips, both before and after the July 15 changeover. We expect some of the growth is attributable to more transfers; probably between 8000 to 10,000 trips.’’

GWRC stood by its claim that ‘‘continuing patronage growth’’ defied commentators.

‘‘Commentators have predicted that the implementation of the new network would result in commuters abandoning public transport in significant numbers, and this is not the case’’.

To former bus driver Frank Lawton, though, the numbers were ‘‘nonsense’’.

A person who would have once caught a single bus from Strathmore to Newtown now took two, or a Miramar North commuter who now took multiple trips instead of one, and it was easy to see why the numbers increased.

Bus patronage had probably not dropped much because people catching buses often had no other option but it was hard to see how it could have increased, he said.

‘‘There’s suddenly not more people going down to a bus stop saying, ‘I’m going to join public transport, it is wonderful’.’’

Meanwhile, the council has decided to fast-track construction of the hub outside Wellington Regional Hospital in Newtown.

That hub was designed for commuters travelling to the central city from Seatoun, Strathmore and Miramar, who are now required to catch two or three buses instead of one.

But this work will come at the expense of the planned hub on Courtenay Place, near Allen St, which will now not be completed until February.

Elsewhere, the hub at Johnsonville Station is not due to be completed until just before Christmas, while the Karori hub, near the Karori tunnel on Glenmore St, is scheduled for a late November finish.

The news is slightly better for commuters in Miramar and Kilbirnie. Those hubs, on Miramar Ave and Evans Bay Parade, are due to be ready in mid-October.

The Brooklyn bus hub, outside Brooklyn Library on Cleveland St, is expected to be the first hub completed – on Sunday.

Former driver Frank Lawton