Update on Selwyn commuter bus service trial
Trial commuter services for Darfield and Leeston began in late January. Uptake of the service in Darfield has been positive, but usage of the Leeston service is lower.
Environment Canterbury senior manager public transport Stewart Gibbon said he was pleased with the numbers on the Darfield service so far.
“We saw strong growth on the Darfield service last week (4-8 March), with an average of 47 daily boardings. This is up from 39 in the previous week,” he said.
“There is still room for growth on this service and we’d like to see that happen. The numbers show that the morning trip from Darfield is particularly well used, but patronage on the afternoon service isn’t as high. We will be running a survey with passengers in the coming weeks to help us determine if we need to make changes to the time of the afternoon service.
“As well as seeing continued growth, we’re also looking to see that the level of usage is sustained over the autumn and winter months to demonstrate long-term sustainability of the service.”
Usage of the Leeston service has not been as high, and Gibbon says that unless there is better uptake, the passenger numbers aren’t high enough to justify continuing the service long-term.
“We saw strong support from the Leeston community for a commuter service during the survey process late last year. We encourage the community to make good use of the route now so that it can be extended.”
Usage of the Leeston service will continue to be closely monitored over the coming weeks.
Timetables
Head to the Metroinfo website to view the timetables: