Flexible transport options suggested
New flexible public transport options are being suggested to fill the gaps created by Palmerston North’s new electric, faster and more direct bus services.
A petitioner and opponent of the overhaul of the city’s bus services has urged Horizons Regional Council to research three possible options to help people left stranded in their homes too far away from bus stops.
Submitting on the council’s long-term plan on Wednesday, Robyn Douglas said removing buses from 16 whole street lengths and creating routes that ran past – rather than through – several neighbourhoods had created clear and harmful gaps in the service.
She said it was Horizons’ responsibility to ensure public transport services catered for everyone, especially those with the greatest accessibility and mobility needs.
The gaps created were harming people who could not drive and had lost their transport independence.
The Total Mobility scheme was an option for some – if they qualified – but still cost more than a bus fare. Others did not qualify for the scheme but still found the longer walks required to get to a bus stop were beyond their physical abilities.
“You can’t assume families and friends can help, and that’s putting people back in cars anyway.”
Douglas said she understood the council was committed to maintaining the new service, but there were examples from around the country about how to fill in the gaps which deserved some research.
Her preferred option would be an on-demand van service similar to those provided by regional councils in Hastings, Timaru and Tauranga.
They provided a flexible pick-up and drop-off service. People could call from their land line – so no need for cellphones or apps – and would be picked up from home and taken where they wanted to go. They could call for the return trip from a range of agents such as businesses, libraries and health centres.
Douglas said the only problem with the Hastings service was that it was so popular, people were starting to complain about wait times for pick-ups becoming too long because the vans were so busy.
Another choice was a community transport volunteer service such as one being run in Waikato. It worked well as a complementary transport option, she said, but did rely heavily on both volunteers and community fundraising.
Douglas said a third option could be a fixed-time van service operating on some key routes that were now gone, such as Roslyn to the Terrace End shops.
She urged the council to provide budget and staff resources to get out into communities to find the people missing out on the new buses and help design solutions that would suit them.
The council needed to do better than drop off pamphlets or put messages online in order to connect with the people who had been stranded by the changes, she said.