Environment Canterbury said restoring the Orbiter is an option that will be considered in a future public transport programme of route changes.
However, consultation with communities along the route will not take place until the 2025/2026 financial year.
For many people in the area, it is a long time to wait for a regular bus service.
Dallington Community Trust chair David Collins said residents are suffering from limited bus services.
“The current bus route is such an infrequent service. It doesn’t operate late at night, especially in the weekend. This means that people living in Dallington don’t have much option but to take much more expensive options like Uber or taxi.”
Collins also said the bus stops are some distance away from where many residents live.
An ECan spokesperson said it is planning to review the bus services through Dallington in 2024.
“Environment Canterbury is in the process of reviewing routes and service levels to improve the network across the city, and ensure it is fit-for-purpose to tackle transport needs, emissions reduction and climate change mitigation.”
Following the earthquakes, ECan has received a number of enquiries about the Orbiter in Dallington.
While the decision to retain the current route may disappoint Dallington residents, ECan said it will prevent putting the high number of users between Gloucester St and North Avon Rd at a disadvantage.
“Many of the users at these stops had a much higher number proportion of SuperGold users compared to the rest of the network.”
Bus stops in Dallington recorded a daily average of 5.7 passengers between January and August this year, with the stop near the corner of Gayhurst Rd and Mcbratneys Rd recorded an average of 12.4 passengers per day.
However, these numbers were below the average of 18.9 passengers across the network.
Said Collins: “They say that passenger number is not enough to upgrade the service, but then they don’t get an increase in passenger numbers because they don’t upgrade it.”
