Flat $2 bus fares wanted for Nelson
Transport advocates have called on the council to make sweeping changes to transport in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Peter Olorenshaw spoke to the council on community transport group Nelsust’s submission to the annual plan on issues both large and small, asking for the council to take immediate action, as well as start laying long-term plans.
‘‘We’re asking you to think big as well as small,’’ he said. ‘‘The ‘rona reset gives us license to think widely.’’
He said the Covid-19 lockdown had brought all previous planning and assumptions into question.
‘‘All bets are off regarding transport trends. Previous assumptions about traffic growth really need to be questioned, now that we’ve gotten used to working at least some of the time at home, gotten used to online delivery of groceries, and the children have found the joy of independent travel on bicycles. Give people low-traffic safe environments to cycle [in] and this will blossom.’’
Nelsust proposed some immediate steps to drive traffic down, mainly via the promotion of public transport over private car commuting.
Olorenshaw called for flat $2 fares on all buses, which he said could be subsidised by peripheral CBD parking charges, workplace parking levies, and limited free parking in the CBD.
‘‘These combine the carrot and the stick that Queenstown found works so well — we can make car commuting not the most attractive option to many people.’’
Other submitters to the annual plan called for improvements to public transport including suggestions for a dedicated bus and service lane from Richmond to the Nelson CBD, and improved timetables and bus-routes.
Olorenshaw said apart from any environmental or safety issues caused by commuter cars, they simply took up too much useable space in the city.