Councillors warned of popular but expensive public transport option

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
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The MyWay public transport trial in Timaru is being deemed a success, but Ashburton councillors have been warned that success comes with a big price tag.

Deputy mayor Liz McMillian asked Environment Canterbury (ECan) earlier this month how a similar trial of the on-demand public transport service would work in Ashburton.

Mid-Canterbury’s ECan councillor, Ian Mackenzie, said the service was popular but expensive.

“It has been popular with the people of Timaru but it is a very expensive service. It’s substantially higher, and the patronage to date isn’t enough to justify any of the government funding models.

“If Ashburton wanted to proceed with a MyWay type service the cost, because of the population here would be substantially higher than it is in Timaru, and it is already substantially higher than their previous service.”

MyWay was an on-demand public transport service that responded to passengers' pre-booked pick-up locations and destinations and replaced the fixed route services, aside from a link and school services.

The MyWay service in Timaru had a total targeted rate of $1.2 million, after the grant from Waka Kotahi.

ECan deputy chairperson and South Canterbury councillor Peter Scott said in Timaru the patronage was still increasing which was why the trial had been continued.

Scott said there were some big issues if a similar trial was something Ashburton was to pursue.

“We would probably need to strike a [public transport] rate for Ashburton if it was to start,” Scott said.

“The other issue is that Waka Kotahi have put a hold on any further development of a MyWay type model basically because of how successful it has been.

“Selwyn are pretty keen to do it and other areas in New Zealand are pretty keen to do it. They have called for a continuation of the trial, as a trial, until at least 2023.

“We are unsure whether we will be funded past the end of the next financial year, so it’s in doubt at the moment as it stands.”

He said that created a bigger issue for ECan’s regional transport committee and the public transport space across the region.

ECan chairperson Jenny Hughey said the Hamilton District Council had started its own MyWay-type service, mostly funded by the council and the Waikato Regional Council, and the Christchurch City Council was looking at the model.

“If you wanted to fund something yourselves, if that’s a possibility, we can give assistance. That might be something to think about in Ashburton.”

Currently the only public transport in Mid-Canterbury was the Community Connector, a volunteer-driven vehicle linking the likes of Methven and Rakaia to Ashburton, run by the Community Vehicle Trust network.

ECan provided an annual grant of $10,000 towards the service, which serves residents in rural areas travelling to and from Ashburton and did not cover the urban area.

This rural area was rated on a Rating Unit Basis at $1.17 per rating unit, totaling $5000.

Ashburton also had a Total Mobility rate covering both the Ashburton township and Tinwald, rated on at $0.98 per $100,000 of capital value.