The Northland Age

Temporary station poor

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Kerikeri man Dave Perry has appealed to Mayor John Carter and Northland MP Matt King to fix the town’s InterCity bus issues before the company pulls out.

Mr Perry said, like many other residents of Kerikeri and the surroundin­g district, he and his family patronised the InterCity service, which was currently the only public transport service available in any direction. He and his wife had both needed the service for visits to hospitals in Auckland or Whanga¯rei many times over recent years.

They were interested in changes in the bus station at Kerikeri, and the discussion that had taken place, and were concerned that the apparent stalemate and lack of decision by the Far North District Council would result in InterCity giving up and withdrawin­g its service.

That would be a disaster for the region, he said, and once the service was lost it would never be restored.

“As I understand it this matter has recently been considered by the Bay of IslandsWha­ngaroa Community Board, which also had before it a report by consulting engineers suggesting some options to resolve this matter,” Mr Perry said.

“I do not profess to be an engineer, but it is pretty obvious to anyone with a degree of common sense that the current ‘temporary’ station is not fit for purpose, is not enforceabl­e in council approvals, and is a health and safety risk that could well end up costing the council and ratepayers money best spent elsewhere.

“I note from the consultant­s’ report that a lot of considerat­ion is given to the availabili­ty of car parks for private vehicles, and while this is important, a lot of this could be alleviated if some local businesses were required to provide their own private parking spaces rather than using up public car parks in the centre of town, as is currently the case.

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