Uber buses? Hawke's Bay Regional Council to contemplate 'on demand' bus service

An "on demand" bus service may be on the cards as part of Hawke's Bay Regional Council's new Long Term Plan. Photo / Warren Buckland

Need a bus? In Hawke's Bay you might soon be able to hail a bus to your doorstep in the same way you'd hail an Uber.

An "on demand" bus app, with virtual bus stops, is set to be included in the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's working draft of its Long Term Plan, it was revealed at a council climate-focused event at Toitoi Hawke's Bay Arts & Events Centre on Wednesday.

Parliamentary commissioner for the environment Simon Upton, a guest speaker at the event, said the on-demand bus service was one of six key consulting factors of the HBRC Long Term Plan's 2021-2031 working draft.

The other five include planting more of the council's erodible farmland, work to drive more efficient and effective use of water, remove a gravel build-up from the upper Tukituki River to prevent floods, dredge the Clive River, and a plan to develop a potential regional park in the upper Ahuriri Estuary.

Upton, the former minister for environment, said the on-demand bus service would be more convenient and create fewer emissions.

According to the working draft plan, the initiative would start with Hastings, then followed by Napier.

Hawke's Bay Today understands up to six current bus routes in the region could be replaced by the service.

In 2020, HBRC reformed the region's bus service with the introduction of the Regional Integrated Ticketing System (RITS) across Hawke's Bay, which allowed bus users to use the same fare card in nine different regional councils across the country.

The Bee Card, which officially launched in August, also saw the introduction of new, lower fare prices in an attempt to promote bus patronage.

At the time, councillor and Regional Transport Committee chairman Martin Williams said a wider review of transport options was exploring the concept of an "on demand" bus service complementing the existing core bus routes.

However, no further details will be available until the draft plan is officially released at the end of March.

HBRC CEO James Palmer said a month-long community consultation will then be carried out, which will include public submissions, hearings and meetings.

Parliamentary commissioner for the environment Simon Upton, with HBRC chief executive James Palmer and chairman Rex Graham. Photo / Supplied

Upton said there are only two areas that count towards climate change in Hawke's Bay - transport and land use.

The former MP confessed to previously "endlessly" using taxis on a regular basis when working as an MP in Wellington in the 1990s before reforming and making use of the local bus service.

"To move over to using the bus daily took me months, as changing your habits is hard," he said.

According to HBRC's draft Regional Land Transport Plan (2021-2031), only 0.5 per cent of commuters in Hawke's Bay use public transport to get to work.

Upton said the idea of having an on-demand bus service is "smart" in principal, but educating the public enough to use it regularly will be the hardest thing.

HBRC chairman Rex Graham said every decision in the Long Term Plan has underlying climate change factors. Photo / Warren Buckland

Council chairman Rex Graham said every decision within the Long Term Plan has an underlying climate change factor.

"Climate change is the biggest thing that any of us, especially young people, are going to be challenged with in our lifetimes."

According to Graham, 90 per cent of Hawke's Bay residents believe in climate change, but only 50 per cent said they believe it's going to affect them.

"We have a whole generation of people who've probably caused the problem who are worried about a whole lot of other things and say this is not going to affect them.

"That's why it's so important for our young people to stand up and be counted, because this problem is your problem."