In July last year, the Otago Regional Council contracted Queenstown bus operator Connectabus to provide new subsidised trial services from Queenstown to Kelvin Heights, Arthurs Point, Lake Hayes Estate, Quail Rise and Glenda Dr.
On Friday, Connectabus owner Ewen McCammon said, "generally speaking, the system is growing [and] the new seven-day pass system has really been taken on well by people."
However, ORC manager support services Gerard Collings said the uptake of passengers using the services from Queenstown, to Kelvin Heights, and Lake Hayes Estate, is "slower than we would have liked".
"We're probably disappointed at the uptake in Kelvin Heights and Lake Hayes Estate, but it's like with any public transport system, it's hard to get people out of their cars," he said.
The new package of services also includes increased frequency of services between Queenstown, Frankton, and the airport, and GoCard electronic ticketing and fare-saving system.
More recently, a discounted seven-day bus pass was introduced.
"The seven-day pass has had a better uptake, and considering the nature of this town, the go-card tracking is doing well," Mr Collings said.
Launching the services seven months ago, Mr McCammon said the aim was to have all services running as fully commercial services before the end of the 32-month trial period.
Their existence after that would be subject to public use, he said.
Mr Collings said it was "still early days", and he could not speculate on whether the services would continue running after the trial period.
Asked if he thought the passenger uptake would increase in time, he said, "I certainly hope so".
- What do you think of the Queenstown Connectabus services? Email naeem.alvi@odt.co.nz
