New public transport ideas on the cards for Tauranga, blueprint shows

The Public Transport Blueprint could see changes across Tauranga's roads in 15 months. Photo/File

Buses down Cameron Rd every four minutes, additional direct routes to the city and an express bus service from Papamoa are among options being explored to alleviate growing traffic congestion in Tauranga.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council's senior public transport planner, Joe Metcalfe, put forward the Public Transport Blueprint at a Tauranga City Council transport committee meeting, yesterday.

Mr Metcalfe said the way forward was to improve bus services across the city by including express bus services through suburbs like Papamoa, more direct routes to the city and prioritising school buses,

He said the proposal also included four whole new routes to complete existing bus circuits in Tauranga.

One route would link Bayfair, through to Welcome Bay, then Greerton and Tauriko.

Under the current system, it would take roughly three buses to complete the trip.

Mr Metcalfe said Cameron Rd was a high priority for the city.

Congestion on Cameron Rd could be alleviated with additional buses by the middle of next year, compared with a light-weight rail system which would take five years to complete.

In the blueprint, the number of buses on Cameron Rd would increase from 16 to 26 buses an hour - a bus every four minutes.

Mr Metcalfe said they were looking to implement the new services halfway through 2018.

The regional council's transport policy manager, Garry Maloney, said 60 per cent of people said they would try buses.

"We think the way forward is to improve our reliability and timings and that's through things like express bus services, more direct routes, similarity."

Councillor Larry Baldock asked whether increasing the buses could be trialled before anybody committed to the idea.

"Increase the frequency for three months, instead of waiting 18 months to see if something may fail," he said.

Councillor Steve Morris questioned whether more buses on the roads would mean more emissions going into the atmosphere.

Councillor Gail Macintosh said 15 months was too long to wait for more buses.

Census journey to work via public transport:

Public transport patronage grew on average 18 per cent a year between 2002 and 2012 from 300,000 passengers to 1,800,000. Patronage growth in the past four years has been stagnant.