Reading: 604 pages
Hours in meetings: 9 hours
A reasonably quiet week this week.
The key meeting of the week was the Tauranga Public Transport Committee meeting.
We heard there is increased patronage (34% year on year) and heavy demand for school buses -which might be a challenge. Increased patronage was put down to a range of reasons: A return to a full timetable after the challenges of Covid, Increased parking charges, the price of fuel, fare reductions for some and the fact we have a growing city.
Total Mobility use is up by over 8%. This is a scheme which supports transport for people with disabilities which impact their ability to catch public transport e.g. Blind, very ill etc. There are 4723 people who are registered to use this service and between them there were over 27 000 trips in the quarter ending Dec 31, 2023.
We then took the opportunity to have a look at the new Electric Buses which will be doing the “On demand” service around Pyes Pa. Lakes, Hospital areas. Impressive that I could stand fully upright in the vehicle which seats a dozen or so people. The trial lasts for two years. Find out more about the trial at https://www.baybus.co.nz/ondemand .
On a less positive note, I was contacted by a constituent whose young teenage daughters were assaulted on a bus this month. We try our best with security on and around buses but there are some real lowlifes out there. Police are chasing this up.
Other meetings during the week included an informal cup of tea with the new Quayside Holdings Directors. Quayside manages the Council investment funds and plays an important role in keeping our rates down.