Name the bus route and be in to win!
Published on 01 November 2022
Whanganui District Council wants the community to help name a new high frequency bus route with a chance to win one of three $100 grocery vouchers.
Whanganui District Council and Horizons Regional Council are collaborating to roll out the new bus route in February 2023. Buses will run every 20 minutes in both directions between Aramoho and Castlecliff Beach, taking in the city, the hospital and Gonville along the way.
Anthonie Tonnon, Whanganui District Council’s representative on Horizons Regional Council’s Passenger Transport Committee, says, “The new bus route will be additional to current services – all existing routes will continue to run as normal.
“Other cities with frequent routes have given their routes a name. We’d love to find a name that feels like us, which is why we’re going out to the community for ideas.
“Our favourite entries will go into the draw to win one of three $100 grocery vouchers.”
You can enter online at https://www.surveylegend.com/s/4iao or drop an entry into your local library before 5.00pm on Thursday 17 November.
The new high frequency route is being brought in after market research conducted by SIL Research showed a high number of Whanganui people were interested in taking public transport but said low service frequencies and a lack of information were the biggest hurdles.
The service will run every 20 minutes from 7.00am to 7.00pm weekdays and 9.00am to 3.00pm Saturdays. On Friday nights, the service will run hourly from 7.00pm to 11.00pm.
SIL’s market research showed the most common reason for travelling in Whanganui was shopping, followed by work, socialising and visiting hospitality and entertainment venues.
Anthonie Tonnon says the new all-day frequent service will make catching the bus for shopping an easy option because when you’re ready to go home you know there is a bus less than 20 minutes away.
“The late-night service on Friday nights means people can plan to leave their car at home on Friday and stay later to dine in the city and the Saturday service means people will have an easy way to take public transport to and from the Saturday markets,” Tonnon says.
He says Whanganui is ideally set up for public transport.
"Much of our housing was built along tram corridors on streets like Glasgow Street and Cornfoot Street and the high numbers of people who still live near these corridors make this route possible.”
Once the service is in place, feedback from the community will help Horizons and Whanganui District Council plan improvements to Whanganui’s public transport network and consider extending high frequency services to other routes.
For now, work is underway preparing for the new service to be implemented in February.
“Auckland has its InnerLink route, Christchurch has the Orbiter and Hamilton has the Comet. Help us come up with a great bus route name that you’d love to see moving Whanganui people around,” Anthonie Tonnon says.
Horizons runs the bus services in Whanganui – for information about current bus services see www.horizons.govt.nz