Call to get cracking on another city bus spine
With bus passenger numbers on the rise, the Greater Wellington Regional Council says another route through the central city is now a matter of urgency.
There was a “real opportunity” because both the city council and the regional council were agreed on the need to increase capacity for buses, said regional councillor Thomas Nash.
“We want to move fast.”
The ambition was for work to start on a second bus spine by the end of the year, Nash said, so that it could start being added to bus routes before the end of 2025. The most likely location for the second spine was northbound along the Harbour Quays and southbound along Featherston St.
With increasing bus patronage and the regional council turning its focus to buses after the demise of the light rail project, the Golden Mile was “log-jammed” and needed another route to take the pressure off, Nash said.
According to Metlink, 90% of all WelliNgton city bus trips and two-thirds of regional bus trips use the Golden Mile (between Lambton Quay, Willis St, Manners St and Courtenay Place).
Improvements as part of the city council’s Golden Mile project, including more spacing between bus stops, would help to increase capacity but could only do so much.
A notice of motion to delay the Golden Mile project from city councillors suggested the city needed an integrated transport plan before proceeding, but Nash strongly disagreed.
“People don’t want more transport studies and plans in Wellington, they want more bus lanes and bus services.
“If I’ve learned one thing in nearly five years as a councillor it’s that people want us to get on with it.”
The second bus spine was needed as a matter of urgency in Nash’s view, with bus patronage now exceeding 2019 (preCovid) numbers. Once installed, it could be improved.
Let’s Get Wellington Moving and both councils had already spent millions on transport studies and plans, Nash said. All of them had indicated that another public transport spine for the buses, was needed to relieve pressure on the Golden Mile.
In the regional council’s submission on the Wellington City Council’s Long-Term Plan, Nash wrote that he was “very positive” about co-peration with the city council and supported the progression of a second bus spine “as a matter of urgency”.
He also wrote that it was crucial for the city council, as the authority in charge of streets, to support the more environmentally friendly and cheaper electric buses with more funding for street maintenance.
Electric buses are heavier than diesel buses, meaning they create more wear and tear on the roads and will require higher road maintenance budgets from the city council.