Bold bus moves needed

Another day, another glum headline about Christchurch’s declining bus usage. This time it comes from the news that Environment Canterbury (ECan) is planning to axe the six worst-performing bus routes in an effort to bridge a $4 million public transport funding hole.

Among the revelations are that some bus routes are so unprofitable that only 10 per cent of the cost of running them is covered by fares – meaning ratepayers subsidise each passenger journey by up to $20. Even the bestperforming route – the purple line – recoups just 59.1 per cent of costs from fares.

The public transport shortfall has been covered by reserves from ECan and grants from the NZ Transport Agency.

But at $20 a ride for some passengers, that is clearly unsustainable. For that kind of money, it could be more cost-effective to give riders on the axed lines vouchers to use for an Uber.

We have said it before (and even warned that we’d probably have to say it again) but it is clearly time for a major shake-up of Christchurch’s bus system.

Nearly every story we have done about bus usage over the past few years has been accompanied by scores of comments from disgruntled commuters who complain that since the spoke and hub model for bus routes was introduced, their commute has become longer, more expensive and less convenient.

Of course, bus use in Christchurch was hit hard by the earthquake seven years ago.

Journey numbers have never recovered to more than 80 per cent of pre-2011 figures. And given that central city employment numbers are still just 60 per cent of prequake levels, that is perhaps not unexpected.

But more worrying is the patchy rate of growth in ride numbers. After bottoming out in 2012, passenger numbers grew until 2015 but then fell again in 2015. Ridership had a small bump in the first quarter of the current financial year.

That prompted ECan’s senior manager of public transport, Stewart Gibbon, to say ‘‘the numbers suggest that we are starting to head in the right direction’’.

Maybe, but Christchurch has a long way to go. Just 35 per cent of people in the city used public transport in the past year, according to the Ministry of Transport, compared with 60 per cent in Auckland, 77 per cent in Wellington and 40 per cent nationally.

Yes, Christchurch sprawls in comparison but it seems wedded to a culture of one car, one driver. And if driving yourself really is quicker and cheaper than using public transport, arguments about reducing congestion and emissions struggle to overcome the convenience.

Is it time to ditch the spoke and hub model, and restore previously axed lines, or is the solution to double down on that model and focus on the ‘‘last mile’’ problem, perhaps by providing parking lots along the most popular lines to draw those who can’t or won’t walk or cycle to a bus stop.

Or maybe it will take jazzing up the commuting charm of buses: wi-fi, coffee, even entertainment screens?

That may be pie-in-the-sky talk but turning around the fortunes of the city’s public transport will take bold ideas.