A 46% INCREASE in bus patronage for the first quarter of this year is pleasing, but the rise is not big enough to sustain the investment the Otago Regional Council has made in improving Dunedin's public transport system, Cr Michael Deaker says.
Late last year, the council started making improvements to its Dunedin bus passenger transport system, including the creation of new routes, more frequent stops and integrated ticketing.
At yesterday's meeting of the policy and resource planning committee, Cr Deaker said firstquarter figures between 2000 and 2007 had shown bus patronage was static at 300,000.
This year, patronage in the first quarter had risen to 440,000.
‘‘It's very pleasing, but not enough to sustain the investment we've made on behalf of ratepayers.''
A key innovation of the upgrade, the new campus circuit, was looking ‘‘especially fragile'' after trip numbers dropped from 550 in the second week to 370 in the seventh.
Cr Deaker said the drop could be weather related and use in the second, colder term, could improve.
If not, ‘‘it is going to die'', he said.
The new Concord-Kaikorai Valley service was doing very well, while the Mosgiel express needed to keep increasing its numbers, he said.
To April 4, there had been 9500 GoCards sold, and in the first quarter they were used to pay 42% of fares.
Chief executive Graeme Martin said there needed to be a ‘‘big, big lift'' in patronage to make the changes sustainable.
Cr Deaker said increased pet rol prices would not necessarily drive people to use buses.
The last time petrol got to $1.80 a litre, bus patronage dropped he said.
