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February, 2010 The NZ Transport Agency is hoping a cash injection of $2.4 million will help get more Wakatipu residents using the bus service.The $2.4m is being provided to the Otago Regional Council to negotiate a two-and-a-half-year trial to increase the frequency of the Queenstown-based Connect-A-Bus service and to extend the areas it covers. Agency Otago-Southland director Bruce Richards said the Queenstown Lakes District Council was looking to remove some unrestricted parking areas from the central business district. It was hoped the combination of that and the increased service would be a way of "frustrating the people into using the buses", Mr Richards said. Agency chief executive Geoff Dangerfield said Queenstown would face the same traffic issues in the future as Auckland, but on a smaller scale, if people did not begin using alternatives to private vehicles. There were not enough roads for the expected number of vehicles of a growing population, so solutions needed to be found, Mr Dangerfield said. The trial was expected to make the bus service more accessible by going into places it passes by, such as Kelvin Heights, Quail Rise, Arthurs Point and further into Lake Hayes Estate. District council infrastructure strategy manager Dennis Mander said the council was not helping to fund the trial, but was looking at taking away unlimited-time parking zones such as those in Brecon St. These areas would become time-restricted to attract visitor parking and would help to reduce the number of people driving to work and parking there all day, he said. Connect-A-Bus managing director Ewen McCammon said residents made up on average about 25 per cent of the bus users and it was this figure the council hoped to increase. The bus trial is set to begin on July 1 and, if successful, could continue as a fulltime service. Source: The Southland Times
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