$115m plan proposes Christchurch buses so frequent you just 'turn up and go'

Wednesday, 9 December 2020

Environment Canterbury unveiled a new look for Christchurch's buses in September 2020.

One hundred extra buses and 22 kilometres of new bus lanes are included in a $115 million plan to revitalise Greater Christchurch's unreliable and uncompetitive public transport.

Two business cases to improve the region's public transport were released at the end of November and the Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury (ECan) would discuss endorsing them at meetings on Thursday.

The business cases need endorsement and funding commitments from local councils across Canterbury before they can be submitted to central Government (through the NZ Transport Agency) for signoff.

Two Canterbury councillors told Stuff they hoped the Government would invest in the proposed 10-year plan.

These five main bus routes will have buses running every 7.5 minutes on weekdays if the proposed 10-year plan is implemented.

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Christchurch’s unreliable and uncompetitive bus network needs to revitalised, transport advocates say.

The city’s five main bus routes would be upgraded first if the proposal was approved.

Each would have “a turn-up-and-go” model where a bus arrives every 7.5 minutes between 7am and 7pm on weekdays. Presently, the core routes have a 10 or 15-minute frequency.

Councillor Mike Davidson says there has been decades of underinvestment in Christchurch's public transport.

The core routes would also have dedicated bus lanes with traffic lights that could change to give priority to buses.

The entire city's network would be upgraded to include more smart technology and more bus shelters, and to integrate with other forms of transport – namely the city's bike network and any future mass rapid transport.

The programme aimed to grow patronage from 14 million trips per year to 20 million by 2028.

The business cases said the current bus system was unreliable and journey times did not compete with taking a car.

In a city council survey conducted earlier this year, only 29 per cent of respondents said they used public transport. A third said they would be encouraged to use it if buses were more frequent.

Christchurch City councillor Mike Davidson, who chairs the council's transport committee, said a lot of work had gone into the business cases, and he was pleased to get them to the council before Christmas.

“I’m quite positive about where we’re heading … [after] decades of under-investment, and we're actually finally starting to right this wrong.”

Davidson said doing nothing was not an option due to the council's climate emergency declaration. In 2018-19, transportation was responsible for 54 per cent of the city’s emissions.

The Christchurch City Council is expected to absorb the majority of the proposed programme's costs.

Council staff wanted to add $60m for the programme to their 10-year plan, but that figure is $16.2m short of the business cases’ $76.2m investment recommendation.

The shortfall would have to budgeted for outside the 10-year plan.

“We all know that we actually need to invest in public transport if we want it to succeed – we haven’t in the past,” Davidson said.

The programme expected operating costs would jump by about $50.7m over 10 years, while revenue from fares would increase by only about $31.85m.

Presently, fares cover about a third of the bus network's operating costs, with targeted rates and grants from the NZ Transport Agency covering the rest.

Davidson said he wanted the programme to be a partnership between Greater Christchurch and central Government.

“We’re about to knock on their door, so I hope they're going to open it.”

ECan councillor Phil Clearwater said he thought the Government would be “interested in talking with us” about funding.

“[The programme] is clear, it's succinct … it's really a good report to say ‘look let's get on with this’.”