By rnz.co.nz
Public transport usage across Nelson and Tasman has increased by more than 40 percent since the new electric bus service began a week ago.
The eBus service was launched on 1 August and data from the first seven days shows 15,500 thousand trips were taken around the two regions.
Nelson mayor Nick Smith said there had been a 195 per cent increase in weekend journeys, due to the more frequent services.
On the old NBus schedule, the bus only ran six times on a Saturday, with no services on Sunday. The new eBus schedule sees 25 Saturday trips on Route 1 alone.
Due to high passenger volumes, one bus route between Nelson and Richmond has already been changed to manage numbers, as it was getting full half way through the journey.
At the launch of the service last week, Tasman mayor Tim King said the success of the eBus service would come down to people’s willingness to change the way they chose to commuted around the region.
In the first week, there had also been 1200 journeys on the routes to Wakefield and Motueka.
“It is a service that both communities have been asking for and the numbers are a great start to this service becoming a genuine option for residents in these townships.”
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said people often told her they would catch the bus if the service was more frequent and visited more locations and results from the first week showed that, but there were still a few tweaks that needed to be made.
“I know that many people want the bus routes to begin at 6am and I support that. I am encouraging the councils to make that change as soon as they are able.”
Boyack said she also wanted to see an On Demand service for people living in the Nelson South, Victory and Washington Valley area, an extension of the service to Wakapuaka and Hira and timetable changes to the Wakefield service, so it could better serve workers and school children.
