Local News for Local Communities
Issue 224
Wednesday 28 August 2024
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Long Waiting List Page 2
Cycling Across The UK Page 6
Passion For Motor Racing Pages 8
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ROUGH RIDE FOR BUS COMMUTERS Commuters travelling to the Christchurch city and back from Rolleston are concerned about the overcrowding on the buses, in particular Route 85. People are forced to stand in the aisle and stairwell for the whole journey with the bus being full front to rear. Overcrowding on buses has been happening for a good part of this year and, with new subdivisions and lack of infrastructure to support the population growth, people are concerned. One commuter, who did not wish to be named, has spoken out on behalf of the Collective Rolleston Bus Commuters. He says, “Every morning all seats are full, and passengers are standing throughout the bus as far as the driver’s seat. The service continues not to meet the increasing demand. A good number of passengers have raised safety concerns numerous times given the high number of passengers forced to stand, which has fallen on deaf ears.” He says that last month one of the direct services to the city in the morning was unable to stop at Kidman Street to collect passengers as the bus was already at capacity. “It’ll either take a serious accident or possible loss of life before an additional service is added. We do wonder what Selwyn District Council’s part in this should play. The Council should advocate for commuters as they seem happy to increase population numbers, but the infrastructure does not meet the public transport demand.” A Selwyn District Council spokesperson says buses to town are run by Environment Canterbury (ECAN). “The Council has advocated to ECAN for more buses and as part of the Long-Term Plan, we are conducting a business case looking into the cost for providing a bus service that would support the ECAN services.” ECAN’s Public Transport acting general manager Sonia Pollard says Route 85 between Rolleston and Christchurch city is a wellused service, and at peak times the bus is often full. “We’ve heard community concerns about the safety of standing passengers on the bus, particularly whilst driving on the highway. Our buses are certified by NZTA, and each bus carries a loading certificate specifying safe legal load limits for both seated and standing capacity. This can be found on the front window on the door side, facing outwards. Based on customer feedback, we have instructed operators to trial driving at 70km/ hr while on the motorway with standing passengers. We’re monitoring this to inform any future decisions.” Ms Pollard says “The population of Selwyn District is growing rapidly, and we have heard clearly from the community that investment is needed to improve public transport services. For this reason, improvements to the direct services between the main urban centres in Selwyn (Rolleston and Lincoln) and Christchurch City were moved forward from year three of the Long-Term Plan, to year two. This is an increase of $800,000 to the budget for year two.”
Overcrowding on buses to and from Rolleston is being a concern for commuters.
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