Tauranga Boys High School students Harry Perry (left) and Lucas Daum, both 14, presented to the regional council on Thursday. Photo / Laura Smith
Tauranga Boys High School students Harry Perry (left) and Lucas Daum, both 14, presented to the regional council on Thursday. Photo / Laura Smith
They might be young, but two Tauranga teens are schooling the regional council on what they think will help with the city's transport woes.
Harry Perry and Lucas Daum are Year 10 students at Tauranga Boys' School and today presented to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council-led Public Transport Committee.
The boys presented to the committee about a year ago when they revealed a pitch for an app to address issues such as late buses, and expressed their dissatisfaction that the service was only transporting 1.3 per cent of the Tauranga population.
Lucas said they had not seen much positive change since their last visit.
Harry said fewer than 2000 people were transported a day, many of which were school students and about 35 per cent were in the workforce.
In his view: "Less than 2000 people a day looks like a complete failure. It's no wonder we are losing millions of dollars in revenue."
The two had focused particularly on Matua, where they said the problems included schedules being optimistic but not realistic and areas that were underserved.
They said their proposal would stop bottlenecks and get more people out of cars, with dedicated bus routes.
They suggested two Matua routes as well as a link route to the city, with a hub at Cherrywood.
Committee chairman Andrew von Dadelszen thanked the pair and said their first presentation was fantastic and very well thought out. He said the same was true for their latest.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Public Transport Committee chairman Andrew von Dadelszen. Photo / Laura Smith
"It hasn't fallen on deaf ears."
He said staff were working on the issues highlighted, but said there was a reluctance from passengers to use hub systems.
Staff were to engage with the two students in their work.
Speaking about the chairman's report to the meeting, von Dadelszen said he was aware there were problems with the bus system and hoped the service would return from its reduced state soon.
He said there were constraints with driver shortages. "These have to be overcome."
Draft Regional Public Transport Plan
The committee approved its Draft Regional Public Transport Plan to go out for consultation on July 4.
Von Dadelszen said it was important to get the plan through promptly, being election year: "We don't want to start again".
An issue of the gap between council's own emission reduction targets and the Government's was also discussed, with elected members requesting clarifying information.
Council's regional development principal advisor Bron Healey said their comments would be taken into account in the final document after the submission process.
The service would link Ōmokoroa, Tauranga CBD and Mount Maunganui, and set-up costs could hit $17 million.
Service planning and project delivery team leader Oliver Haycock presented the draft findings.
When Nees asked why previous commercial ferries in the city had stopped, he could not say but said the study identified challenges such as needing two boats to operate an attractive service.
"We need to consider how viable that would be."
She asked how many hurdles would be in the way of an operator testing or trailing a service.
General manager of strategy and science Namouta Poutasi said there would be a process for approval to operate, but if there was an intention to subsidise this then there would also be a funding process.
Tauranga City Council commissioner Stephen Selwood encouraged alternative modes of transport, including ferries: "We have this water, why aren't we using it?"
But he said there were "enormous barriers" to enabling it.
He said he wondered if using a vessel to bring cruise ship passengers from Mount Maunganui to town could be a good option for testing a service.
Haycock said the regional council will be engaging with Tauranga City Council staff in preparing a final study.
Annual Plan
The regional council also held a full council meeting, in which it adopted its Annual Plan 2022/23.
Councillor David Love said there had been consensus on the matter and moved that all recommendations be accepted.
The council deliberated on the draft plan in May and there were four workshops held from late last year.
The draft identified an operating expenditure of $175 million and capital expenditure of $34 million.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council deputy chairperson Jane Nees. Photo / Laura Smith
There would be a rates increase of 5.8 per cent, translating to about $21 extra for an average property.
Changes from the council's second year of the 2021-2031 Long-Term Plan to the draft Annual Plan for 2022/23 included an increase in employee expenses from $47.4m to $52.3m, including a 7.9 per cent rise in staff pay, linked to inflation and negotiated in the collective employment agreement.
In a release issued after the meeting, council chairman Doug Leeder said the plan was adopted in a "challenging operating environment".
This included Covid-19 disruptions as well as regulatory reforms and upcoming elections "which we anticipate will attract considerable interest".
