Councils may bring back free central city shuttle
Canterbury councils are poised to look at whether a free central Christchurch shuttle can be reinstated.
A free shuttle service previously ran in the central city for 15 years, but was stopped after the February 2011 earthquake.
Last week, Christchurch City Council staff – including Mayor Lianne Dalziel – met and discussed the service’s possible return with Environment Canterbury (ECan) and economic development agency ChristchurchNZ.
In December, council staff recommended councillors revisit the shuttle idea in 2024. They said a ‘‘rough’’ cost analysis estimated it would cost $1.3 million a year to run and would require at least $200,000 to $400,000 to establish all fully funded by ratepayers.
Central ward councillor Jake McLellan said a shuttle would have multiple benefits.
‘‘We just really spoke with them about the need to reinstate the shuttle, not just as a transport project, but as an economic development catalyst for businesses in the CBD.’’
McLellan said Environment Canterbury agreed during the meeting to refresh and update a previous feasibility study about the shuttle.
‘‘[That work] was a long time ago and a lot has changed in central Christchurch since then,’’ McLellan said.
While this staff work would look at key destinations, McLellan said he wanted the shuttle to connect up the city’s anchor rebuild projects.
He said he felt really positive after the meeting, but added there was a long way to go.
Councillor Mike Davidson, chair of the city council’s transport committee, was also optimistic. ‘‘The two councils will need to resolve to do something formally and so hopefully that will get actioned within the next couple of months,’’ he said.
‘‘That will allow that work to begin to really revisit the previous work that was done.’’
Staff would update the previous feasibility study ‘‘to reflect the current situation in terms of actually we’ve got a lot more happening in town and costs have changed,’’ Davidson said.
This would give councillors a better understanding of viability, he said.
Davidson said the shuttle had been successful pre-earthquake.
‘‘It will add another dimension to our inner city that’s currently missing,’’ he said, adding that it could link up key destinations, attract people to the city, and improve accessibility too.
‘‘You put all that together, you’ve actually got a really good win.’’
A city council spokesperson said staff are currently working on a report to bring to the city council and ECan.
The meeting followed previous unsuccessful efforts to reinstate the shuttle. During 2016 and 2017, a business case looked at bringing it back as a trial, but city leaders delayed it due to funding issues.
City councillors asked their staff to look at the proposal as part of work on the organisation’s budget for the 2022/23 financial year. The December memo from staff which estimated costs said the service could be restarted once ‘‘key attractors’’ in the city were completed and any changes to public transport fare structures and ticketing systems were made.
ECan operates Christchurch’s Metro public transport system, while the city council pays for the majority of infrastructure, like bus shelters and bus lanes.