Goodbye bus-tastrophe: commuters set record
Little did 2114 Wellington bus riders on Tuesday know, but they were taking a ride never taken before.
That was because, when the 107,634th passenger boarded a Wellington bus that day, a new record for Wellington bus boardings was set.
Then each of the 2114 people who boarded a bus after that took the record higher, leaving it at 109,747.
The record, a staggering turnaround for the city’s bus service which was dubbed a “lasagne of failure” after a complete overhaul in 2018, comes as Greater Wellington councillors agreed yesterday to increase fares by 10% from July 1.
“We’re not asking people to pay for a bus service that that isn’t working. We’re asking people to invest in a bus service that is good and is going to continue to improve,” said the council’s transport committee chairperson Thomas Nash.
The council also confirmed that free travel for under 13-year-olds and half-price fares for under 25-year-olds will come to an end on May 1, in line with the Government’s decision to withdraw funding for these concessions.
Under 5-year-olds will continue to travel for free with Metlink and half priced fares remain for passengers holding Community Services Cards through the government’s Community Connect scheme.
The 75% discount on Total Mobility taxi services for Total Mobility Card holders also remains, as do half-price off-peak fares for all passengers.
Nash also said that the council was working with KiwiRail and the Government to fix problems with the trains “as soon as possible”.
After a chronic driver shortage saw bus reliability plummet, leading to the recruitment of overseas drivers, buses were now back up to 99%-plus reliability, he said.
But this could create its own problems this year, he said
If reliability was a 2023 problem, bus capacity and the need for more bus lanes would be 2024’s problem, he said.
The peak was driven by more people trusting buses and the return of university students to the city, he said.
It was also helped by March, starting today, traditionally being the busiest month on buses.
He expected new records to be set in the coming weeks.