FIRMS HIT BY RISE IN PASSENGERS
28 February 2008
Phil HAMILTON
Swelling bus passenger numbers in Christchurch have left people standing at stops and extra services being considered for some routes.
The pressure has gone on the city's metro services with rising fuel prices pushing commuters onto buses, particularly on the longer services.
Last month was the busiest January ever. Bus companies are bracing themselves for "mad March" -- traditionally the busiest month of the year.
One bus company has even mooted reconfiguring buses on the shorter routes by taking out seats and installing hand grips to have all passengers standing.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) passenger services manager Wayne Holton-Jeffreys said it was monitoring some routes, with Rangiora, Belfast, Kaiapoi, Queenspark and Parklands all under the microscope.
"We're working with the three bus companies to address any issues we can," he said. "We're encouraging them to put extra buses on and then monitor it."
Holton-Jeffreys said the frequency of the Rangiora service was doubled last year but was struggling to cope at peak times.
An extra bus was likely to be scheduled for Kaiapoi to pick up passengers before the Rangiora service came through.
Last March, there were a record 1.55 million bus trips in Christchurch and Holton- Jeffreys expected that number to be beaten next month. "That will be the true test, that's when we get tested to the limit. It's important to meet demand so people don't walk away."
Red Bus operations manager Layne Sefton said Lyttelton, Belfast and Sumner were the busiest routes serviced by Christchurch's largest bus company.
He said drivers were meant to call in when they were full or had standing room only and the company then tried to ensure the next bus had extra capacity.
However, he said the problems were only likely to worsen.
"A discussion that needs to happen is to look at the overseas model and change the configuration and have more people standing and less seats on the shorter trips," he said.
Christchurch secretary Nicole Hothersall said her usual express bus from Queenspark had passed her by two mornings running this week. Yesterday she left home 20 minutes early to catch the preceding express service and arrived at work half an hour earlier.
"It's not encouraging people to use buses, that's what we were all saying at the bus stop."
Christchurch Bus Services operations manager Greg Barnard said the increased numbers had kicked in in the third week of January and the whole network was under pressure at peak times.
Last year they had had one half-empty bus coming in from Kainga but now two buses were operating at capacity.
Leopard general manager Matt O'Malley said it had increased the size of the Orbiter buses from 29-seaters to 39-seaters and that had worked well.
© 2008 Fairfax New Zealand Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Press (Christchurch)
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