Push to expand Raglan's bus services amid tourism boom

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

The next Raglan bus is quite far away for Whāingaroa (Raglan) Environmental Defence secretary John Lawson and for residents Annette Townsend and Lois Brooks.

Calls to increase bus services from Raglan to Hamilton have been partially heeded by the regional council as the town’s tourism sector blossoms.

Only five return bus trips per day are available, said Whāingaroa (Raglan) Environmental Defence secretary John Lawson, who played a major role in making sure the bus line wasn’t scrapped altogether back in 2001.

He wants “something more aligned with what tourists expect”.

An extra morning and and afternoon peak return service is coming “in the medium term”, Waikato Regional Council told the Waikato Times.

Lawson said the population, especially in summer, is far outpacing the current public transport infrastructure.

Furthermore, the “long term” plan is to turn the service into a “consistent two-hourly frequency during off-peak periods and weekends” as well as doubling weekend services and extending weekday services until 9pm, a spokesperson said.

Despite paying the same $77 annual subsidy as ratepayers in Ngāruawāhia, Cambridge and Huntly, Raglan remains the only satellite town without an hourly bus service, Lawson said.

He pointed to a recent experience getting onto a double decker bus outside the Hamilton police station heading for Raglan, adding if “police were looking at the time, they'd have stopped the bus and said it was overcrowded”.

It’s a long wait if you miss the bus to Hamilton in Raglan.

The major causes for a lack in services is Raglan's seasonal population peak and troughs along with the area's lack of a “structure plan”, he said.

“It's an anomaly in the system. Because we don't have a plan, the regional council staff don't have any sort of objective of providing for the extra growth, so as far as they're concerned, Raglan isn't important because it doesn't have a plan telling them what to do.“

It’s a claim the council has denied, though a spokesperson noted Raglan lies outside of the Metro Spatial Plan, meaning it “has a different growth profile and travel market”.

However, public transport planning “is guided through a range of statutory and strategic documents”, not just a structure plan, the spokesperson said.

‘Future planning has recognised the need to cater for ongoing growth in travel demand,’ a Waikato Regional Council spokesperson says.

They also noted that public transport services must be designed to be sustained through the year, rather than peak periods alone.

“Seasonal demand is one of a number of factors considered when planning future services.”

“The future Raglan town service and long-term increases to weekend frequencies have been designed in part to improve access to popular destinations and cater for broader travel patterns.”

The World Surf League drew thousands of people to Raglan.

Raglan’s booming tourism industry puts the infrastructure under an intense spotlight, especially given the recent success of the World Surf League, which may return next year.

Currently, Lawson said “there’s a feeling” the poor service turns people away from visiting.

“People who staff the information office often I think feel quite embarrassed… compared with places many tourists come from like Europe and Asia, it's really quite a poor service.”

“I'd just like to see the Raglan bus being treated in much the same way as the other bus services and move to having an hourly service so we have something more aligned with what tourists expect.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.