City's bus service 'freebies' may be axed

BY EVAN HARDING

Invercargill's popular free bus service might be set for the chop.

The city's bus service, which carries 400,000 passengers a year, has for several years been free for passengers catching a ride from 9am to 2.30pm, Mondays to Fridays, and from 9am to 3pm on Saturdays.

But city council roading manager Tom Greenwood yesterday said the days of free bus rides in Invercargill might be coming to an end.

"My feeling is it's probably coming back to the time of a charging regime," he told city councillors at their community services committee meeting.

After the meeting, he said the NZ Transport Agency was looking at ways to cut back on its share of the passenger transport budget.

Invercargill's bus fare money covered just 8 per cent of the contract to run the city's bus service, which was the lowest in the country, Mr Greenwood said.

"The NZTA is saying that's very low and we should be looking at a higher fare box, and the only way we can get more money is to be charging."

He said no decisions had been made, with the agency yet to reveal what its new funding rules would be.

The free bus service was popular in the city, an industry insider said.

It was unclear yesterday what percentage of the 400,000 bus trips taken in the city last year were freebies, but Mr Greenwood said axing the free fares would inevitably mean the number of people using the city's bus service would drop, which was contrary to what authorities were saying they wanted.

"If we want people to use buses (instead of cars), then providing free buses is a great way of doing it."

One Southern Institute of Technology student said she used the free bus service about 10 times a week, which saved her $20 in fares, a "lot of money" on a student's income.

The free service was particularly well used by elderly people, she said.

Shaun Hinga said he used the free service regularly to save on petrol money for his car, while Shirley Rumler said she thought people should be paying a small fee for the bus service, even if it was only 50c.

Spokespeople for Grey Power and Age Concern in Invercargill could not be reached for comment last night.

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