Wendy Roe from Mamaku Residents and Ratepayers says it was worth giving the service a go. Photo / File
Wendy Roe from Mamaku Residents and Ratepayers says it was worth giving the service a go. Photo / File
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has pulled the plug on a community-requested bus route that only had one passenger in six months.
The Mamaku Village Connector, a trial once-a-week return service from the small eastern community to central Rotorua, has only had 20 passengers so far this year, accordingto a report presented in the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Public Transport Committee meeting this morning.
When the trial started in October last year, it was the first time Mamaku had public transport since the 1980s and the community had been lobbying for a service for years.
There was a strong start with 24 passengers in October - but this quickly dropped off and in the following months, passenger numbers were down to single digits. January was the exception, with 12 riders.
Between April and September, there has been just one passenger, in May, with none in the next four months.
Bay of Plenty Regional councillor Lyall Thurston. Photo / File
The service was switched from Tuesdays to Saturdays in June at the request of the local residents' association, but still no one rode.
In total, 51 people have used the service since it started.
The contract with service operator Cross Country Rentals will run to New Year's Eve and cost the council $21,934.06. If there are no further riders that would be just over $430 per ride.
Regional council transport and urban planning manager James Llewellyn said the patronage figures were "pretty disappointing".
"Even the residents' association have acknowledged the trial has been unsuccessful."
He said the council would review the trial to work out what went wrong and learn lessons for the next trial.
Lyall Thurston, a Rotorua-based regional councillor, said the trial was an "abysmal failure".
He said it was a "classic example" of the council responding to pressure from the community for a solution, "and it didn't work".
Lakes Community Board member Phill Thomass said he suspected the Mamaku community had asked for the service a few years too early.
"Mamaku is an area that has had a renewed almost explosion of the community over the last few years. They are still working out how to interact as a community."
He hoped the regional council would not automatically rule out another trial in the future based solely on the issues with this one.
The council voted unanimously to terminate the service when the contract ends on December 31.
Wendy Roe from Mamaku Residents and Ratepayers Group said after the meeting that when New Zealand Railways ceased to exist, train and bus services to Mamaku ended.
"I think people have just adjusted to that and worked out a different way."
She said different days had been tried for the Mamaku Village Connector but it had made no difference in the number of people using the service.
"I think it was still worth giving it a go."
The meeting also had an update on the patronage of two other free bus trials the council is running.
Use of the free school buses in Tauranga hit an all-time high of 71,000 boardings in August but has since dropped, with 61,000 in September and 46,000 in October. School holidays were considered part of the reason for the reduction.
User numbers for SuperGold cardholders, who get free off-peak travel, have dropped to around 32,000-35,000. This was significantly down on pre-Covid numbers of 43,000-44,000.
