Innovative marketing and incentives to encourage public use are needed for the new bus services being trialled, but the high cost of fares and the long time it takes to travel between destinations were also acknowledged by a Queenstown Lakes District Council subcommittee yesterday.
Cr John R. Wilson voiced his non-agenda calls for new promotion ideas and reasons for people to use the Connectabuses to fellow utilities committee members.
The meeting in council chambers yesterday was held seven weeks into the 32-month trial of the Otago Regional Council (ORC) and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) funded service linking Queenstown and its surrounding residential areas, including Arthurs Point, Kelvin Heights and Lake Hayes Estate.
Mr Wilson said interaction with tourists had been "completely ignored" as the service was originally created for commuters.
He said there was the opportunity to integrate buses with cycleways, which would be beneficial for operators.
Cr Cath Gilmour agreed and said, as a Kelvin Heights resident, she had not received any publicity about the service since it had operated.
Senior residents should be able to get a discount with their Go Card, but she wondered if the concession was widely known.
"If we don't get the number up, we're going to be losing [the service] and that would be dismal," Ms Gilmour said.
Cr Lex Perkins said car parking issues were often raised in public forums and committees as an issue, but he urged a special session focusing on the bus service performance.
Cr Gillian Macleod wanted to know what initiatives the council was taking, as a "huge employer", to encourage its staff to use the service.
She suggested a month where everyone used the buses.
However, cost was a big issue - $3 for a child to go 6km was quite high compared with other centres, she said.
Ms Gilmour said she had used the service for a month and $14 to come into town was a lot of money.
Chairman John Mann said council staff members had reported it took one hour to get from Lake Hayes Estate to Queenstown, but transport manager Denis Mander said the instance was the exception.
Mr Mander said the cost of service and the degree of promotion were issues raised early on with the ORC.
"They have put in a no-frills service. Our mayor [Clive Geddes] was very strong on developing a quality service which would attract residents and tourists, but we've got a standard service, [albeit] an improvement on what we used to have."
Mr Mander said it was up to the regional council, which was funded by NZTA, to promote the new services as the bus operator had a relationship with those organisations.
Mr Wilson said he supported the idea of using proceeds from car parking to promote the services.
