Bus passengers seem to have approved of the new Saturday services introduced in Dunedin at the end of January.
The Otago Regional Council introduced more direct-route bus services into the city centre as part of its latest GoBus improvements.
Council director of corporate services Wayne Scott said while it was early days to assess patronage changes, in the first three weeks of the service 14,000 bus users were recorded, compared with 12,900 for the corresponding period last year.
Patronage was also showing improvement across the board, with January figures for patronage about 96,000, significantly higher than January 2011 when only 86,000 were recorded.
January was typically a low point in the annual cycle, he said.
"It shows a positive change from the falling patronage in 2010 and 2011."
Patronage was also showing an upward trend in Queenstown, where boardings for January totalled 52,000, compared with 50,000 the previous year.
