No airport bus ‘a slap in face’ for Hutt ratepayers

The decision not to extend a new Wellington Airport bus service to Lower Hutt has been described by proponents as ‘‘a slap in the face’’ to ratepayers.

Wellington has been without a direct bus route to the airport since the Airport Flyer service stopped operating in November. It had been running, through Wellington City and onto Lower Hutt, for 20 years but was axed by the airport and NZ Bus after it was found to be too costly.

The Greater Wellington Regional Council has committed to including a bus between central Wellington and the airport as part of its Metlink public transport network, but the new service would not continue to Lower Hutt.

That meant the only way for Lower Hutt residents to get to the airport using public transport would be to catch a bus or train to central Wellington and then get off and catch the airport bus.

In a bid to change regional councillors’ minds, more than 2000 Lower Hutt residents wrote to the regional council asking it to extend the route to Lower Hutt.

However, the push failed to sway councillors, the vast majority of whom voted against it at a meeting on April 22.

Regional council chairman Daran Ponter said while it was ‘‘clearly not an easy decision’’, extending the route into Lower Hutt would be too expensive.

‘‘The reality is that people in the Hutt weren’t using this service [before]. We just can’t provide a public transport system on a might-need basis.’’

He and his colleagues were also concerned that the bus might get stuck in traffic jams if it had to travel down State Highway 2 at peak hour.

Ponter said no cost-benefit analysis had been done on extending the route to Lower Hutt as the regional council lacked the necessary data. The regional council had also ruled out trialling the service.

Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen, Lower Hutt-based National MP Chris Bishop, Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry and Hutt City councillor Deborah Hislop have been calling for the service to return to the Hutt.

Andersen said she was ‘‘extremely disappointed’’ by the regional council’s decision. Having to transfer between multiple buses or a bus and train would make it ‘‘virtually impossible’’ for some Lower Hutt residents, such as older people or parents travelling with prams, to get to the airport without using a private vehicle or taxi.

Barry labelled the decision ‘‘a kick in the guts for the second largest city in the region’’, which in his view flew in the face of the regional council’s efforts to reduce the number of cars on the road.

He said the regional council needed to stop acting like Lower Hutt, which has a population of more 100,000, was ‘‘a suburb of Wellington’’ and remember its residents paid regional rates too.

Bishop said councillors must explain why they stopped ‘‘a popular and effective service’’.

‘‘It’s a slap in the face to thousands of people who made submissions.’’

Bishop, Barry and Andersen all believed the route would be well used and vowed to keep fighting for it.