Tour buses turning up in droves at Putāruru’s Blue Spring

Tuesday, 30 December 2025

Tour buses and their passengers are now the biggest problem for locals living around the Blue Spring Te Waihou Walkway near Putāruru.

As authorities try to crack down on poor parking on a packed state highway, locals are concerned about an emerging trend at the popular Blue Spring Walkway - tour buses and their passengers.

Earlier this month, the Waikato Times reported on a multi-agency call to people visiting the Blue Spring Te Waihou Walkway near Putāruru - not to break the law by parking on broken yellow no parking lines, on locals’ driveways, and across state highways.

“It’s great to see the Blue Springs and Te Waihou Walkway getting more popular but visitors are urged to act responsibly,” a joint message from the New Zealand Transport Agency, South Waikato District Council and NZ Police said.

The two blue buses at the top left of this photo are parked illegally on broken yellow lines.

However, over the past few weeks locals have noticed an increasing number of tour buses and their passengers visiting the springs, causing more headaches as they crowd roads leading to the springs.

The 4.7km-long walkway attracts 45,000 to 50,000 visitors a year, and was fully re-opened in July after two years and $2 million worth of repairs.

Police have recently upped their presence around the spring, and had been issuing tickets, South Waikato Ratepayers and Residents Action Group committee member Natasha Tanner said.

This bus is also parked on broken yellow lines, as well as part of the main road to the Blue Spring. Passengers would have had to exit the bus directly onto the road.

“But it seems the spring has been added to these overseas tour companies’ routes,” said Tanner, who lives on Leslie Road. “They are bringing hundreds more people every day … up to 50-plus people in some buses.”

She said the council had installed new upright road markers and speed limit signs, which was good, but the extra parallel parking it created was being used by bus drivers, “and many cars will still be left without parks”.

“So one solution creates another hazard,” Tanner said.

“Carparks along the road are not designed for the extra large wide buses, meaning less room for visitors to get off the road for oncoming traffic … especially with them stopping, turning and reversing within the small carpark, which is not designed for large tour buses.

Putāruru’s popular Blue Spring Te Waihou Walkway has seen a large upsurge of visitors since it fully re-opened in July.

“The road simply wasn't designed for this varied traffic, it's a typical Kiwi country road.”

She said U-turning buses are stopping traffic and damaging the road surface, and some are parking the wrong way into oncoming traffic, sometimes on blind corners.

More importantly, she said the safety of residents, visitors and other road users was being put at undue risk.

Locals living around the Blue Spring Te Waihou Walkway near Putāruru say they have spoken to bus drivers about their poor parking habits, to no avail.

She’d like the current 100kph speed limit on State Highway 28 (White’s Road) near the spring entrance dropped to 70kph.

Tanner also suggested bus and tour companies could be made to pay for the privilege of visiting the springs, which would help pay for more off-road parking instead of the buck being passed to ratepayers.

“Ratepayers have foot[ed] the bill long enough, folk are already struggling to pay heinous rates rises.

“A couple of our neighbours on Leslie Road have said on their recent travels throughout Europe and America that everyone pays for parking and access - so why not here?”

The council’s delivery executive manager Nick Murphy said the summer holiday season would see more visitors to the spring.

“We are working to minimise illegal parking along Leslie Rd that’s putting other drivers and local residents in danger and have a number of measures being put in place.”

These include more parallel parking along Leslie Road, better road signage and warnings, and the installation of edge marker posts along the no parking area.

“The Blue Spring is a renowned tourist hot spot and we want everyone to be able to visit and enjoy this taonga that’s in our backyard. Parking responsibly is a big part of that.”