Whanganui’s public transport could finally catch up with Palmerston North

Anthonie Tonnon says 75 per cent of bus costs are for drivers. Photo / Bevan Conley

A new chapter could be written in Whanganui’s public transport history but community support is needed to get it started.

Horizons Regional Council’s draft 10-year plan for 2024-34 has earmarked $1 million for an urban bus service over the next three years - enough to bring a high-frequency, high-ridership service to the city.

Anthonie Tonnon, Whanganui District Council’s representative to the Horizons Regional Council passenger transport committee, said in the late 1970s there were 800,000 trips a year on the Greyhound buses service.

The Greyhound buses took over from Whanganui’s tram service that ran from 1908 to 1950.

Fast forward to 2022 and the city racked up only 90,000 bus trips.

Tonnon said at that time Whanganui only had a coverage route system - where buses ran every two hours but went “down every other street”.

“Coverage routes are not designed for high ridership, they are designed to sort of be a last resort,” he said.

In January 2023, the last month before the high-frequency Te Ngaru The Tide bus service started, there were 5739 boardings on all urban buses.

A year later there were 12,361, with 8114 on The Tide alone.

Bus services around the country were remodelled in 1991 following the formation of regional councils, Tonnon said.

An advertisement in the Whanganui Chronicle from 1960 celebrating 10 years of the Greyhound bus system.

“City councils could no longer subsidise a local monopoly, own their own services or pay their own drivers.

“For the next eight or so years, Palmerston North and Whanganui had an experiment with a taxi bus service. It didn’t go well and it’s a lesson to why small vehicles don’t work.

“A Toyota Hiace is a great vehicle but it’s designed for intimate groups - your family, your sports group, your band. A bus is designed to make you feel comfortable with people you don’t know.”

Consultation on Horizons’ draft long-term plan closes on April 22.

Its preferred option for public transport is a three-hour journey between Wellington and Whanganui by bus and train, with multiple services a day; multiple services a day between Whanganui, Palmerston North and Marton as part of a region-wide network; and frequent buses for Whanganui’s urban areas.

If signed off, $550,000 will be put into urban transport in 2026/27, followed by $350,000 and $100,000 in the following two years.

Funding of $700,000 in 2026/27 and $800,000 in 2027/28 will be added to regional transport.

Tonnon said in the 1970s people could take a train from Whanganui to Wellington but it only went once a day and took four hours.

“Yes, it would be great to have rail but there is a really long time lag. Hamilton currently has a train being trialled but it took them 15 years to get it to start.

“If you don’t have anything in the meantime, there is no way people can start a habit of public transport.”

Whanganui's Tide service was introduced at the start of 2023. Photo / Bevan Conley

Horizons’ Wellington service would run buses from Whanganui to Waikanae, with patrons then boarding trains to the capital.

Urban buses returned to Whanganui and Palmerston North in 1999 but only Palmerston North had high frequency services, Tonnon said.

By 2019, Whanganui had fewer than three trips per person a year while in Palmerston North it was 15 trips.

He said having three Tide-like buses running in Whanganui, which was “blessed with good geography for public transport”, could bring numbers back.

“We think it’s enough to create a great network because we’ve built our city around tram routes.”

Nelson, a city of 53,000 people, started a half-hourly timetable on all urban routes last year and is on track for 800,000 boardings a year - similar to Whanganui’s numbers in the 1970s.

Whanganui East resident Ken Forster worked for Greyhound from 1977 to 1991, first as a driver and then as a ticket inspector.

Generally, buses ran every 30 minutes.

He said patronage was always high when he started with the company.

“I can remember driving into Maria Place, outside what was Woolworths, and thinking ‘Hell, how many seats have I got?’.

“There was very definitely a need. Time after time, there were full buses.”

Patronage declined as private vehicles became more prevalent but when the Greyhound service ended in 1991 there were still 430,000 trips on public transport that year.

A collection of tickets from Ken Forster's time with Greyhound from 1977 to 1991.

Forster said traffic congestion was starting to cause “all sorts of problems” in Whanganui, with Dublin Street Bridge being particularly bad at times.

“We would love [The Tide] over here in Whanganui East.

“The town is getting an older population and, like me, a lot of them aren’t driving as much. My wife doesn’t drive at all.

“A service needs to be provided for them, with routes that cover as much of the area as is possible - without being stupid.”

Tonnon said a common concern for people was seeing empty buses driving through Whanganui but they needed to be large enough for their busiest service.

“When I got on The Tide this morning, there were 12 people. One had a mobility aid. If we were in a van, that’s already too many.

“It’s also too many to get in a van quickly. You might need to open the boot or get the hoist out, then you couldn’t run the service to time.”

He said 75 per cent of bus costs were drivers.

Using an on-demand van service meant more drivers and more money spent.

Since the Greyhound system was lost, Whanganui had never asked for a bus service on par with Palmerston North, Tonnon said.

Submitting to Horizon’s long-term plan (LTP) was the opportunity.

“We vote every three years for councillors and governments but in an LTP, you can see something tangible in the next couple of years.

“You can see a real programme exist.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.