Meal breaks to cause 'minor' disruptions to Tauranga buses

Tauranga Bus Station. Photo / File

Bus passengers in the Western Bay of Plenty should face only minor disruptions to their travel when legislated changes to bus driver rest and meal breaks come into effect on May 6.

Changes to the Employment Relations Act means timetables may be affected for the foreseeable future while the new driver rosters are rolled out.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council's general manager of strategy and science Namouta Poutasi said the council and its bus operators had worked closely to implement the changes as smoothly as possible.

"In particular, we have worked hard to ensure that no commuter trips into the CBD between 6am and 10am will be dropped and that the rest and meal breaks won't affect school services. One trip will be dropped, with three affected during the weekend."

The Route 60 service from the Tauranga CBD that leaves at 8.45am will not operate but will start at Cambridge Rd/Sterling Gate at 9.06am.

"We understand that this is not ideal, and do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause while we work through the implications of the new legislation.

"We will also continue to work closely with our operators to minimise this impact further over the coming weeks. We will also ensure that we have updated information available on the Baybus website and will also use social media to provide additional updates."

Regional council will reinstate the Pāpāmoa, Maungatapu and Matua bus services once the full extent of the new meal break legislation is understood and managed.