Te Puke bus route reaches patronage milestone

The current service provides 14 return trips a day from Te Puke to Bayfair. Photo / File

Te Puke residents have taken nearly 50 per cent more bus trips on the Bayhopper route in the past four months compared to a year ago.

A total of 8722 people travelled by bus from March to June this year, compared to 5987 for the same period in 2018, according to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Patronage hit an all-time time high of 2634 trips in May this year.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Public Transport Committee chairman Lyall Thurston was thrilled to see the recent changes to more frequent services have been embraced by Te Puke residents.

"The transport network in Western Bay of Plenty of Plenty has been under pressure for some time, due to increasing populations and growth, which has led to increased congestion on our roads," he said.

"These passenger numbers reflect what the Western Bay blueprint was designed to do which was to support Tauranga's needs as a modern city, both today and into the future."

The current service provides 14 return trips a day from Te Puke to Bayfair.

There have been 500-plus extra tertiary trips than the same time last year and nearly 1900 more adult trips in the past four months.

Passengers can use their Te Puke to Bayfair ticket to transfer for free to any other Bayhopper service within Tauranga within one hour.