Sweeping bus changes a step closer

More bus routes and an emission-free bus fleet appear a step closer for Christchurch.

The draft Canterbury Regional Public Transport Plan was approved by the Environment Canterbury (ECan) council yesterday.

The plan outlines sweeping changes for the region’s public transport network, to be brought in over the next 30 years. They include:

More bus routes, including four new core routes (Lyttelton to the airport, Lincoln to New Brighton, Wigram to Prestons and Belfast to Cashmere) running every 15 minutes.

More frequent services, with the five current core routes (Halswell to Queenspark, Hornby to New Brighton, Sumner to Avonhead, Belfast to Barrington, and the Orbiter) running every 10 minutes.

An emission-free fleet by 2030 and rapid transit corridors to and from the north and southwest of the city. This may or may not be light rail, dependent on how technology develops.

It has been developed to prepare for the

150,000-strong population growth forecast for Canterbury over the next 30 years and has five ‘‘top priorities’’: growing patronage, improving the environment, maintaining affordability, and improving accessibility to services.

For the year ending June 30, there were about 13.5 million annual users across Canterbury’s bus network – a 0.8 per cent increase on the year before.

It was the first time the numbers have trended upwards in four years.

But to run these and other planned changes, it is forecast an extra $9.26 million of ratepayer’s money would need to be found in the 2020/21 financial year (based on expected patronage), with further shortfalls predicted in subsequent years.

Infrastructure investments between

$150m and $241m would be needed over the next 10 years. Planners are considering a regional fuel tax to help fund these, which is likely to be available to councils outside of Auckland from 2021.

At the meeting, councillor David Caygill said the plan was ‘‘ambitious in a practical sense but not unrealistic in a financial sense’’.

The key objective was raising patronage, because increased bus usage would benefit the whole city, and a key measure to increasing patronage was improving the frequency of the core routes, he said.

The plan will go out for public submissions for one month from September 17. A copy is available on the ECan website.