The decline is largely due to the absence of international tourists, but it seems more residents are jumping on board.
A report on the performance of the Otago Regional Council’s Orbus network across the resort town and Dunedin in the past six months was presented to councillors during a data and information committee meeting on Wednesday.
It showed nearly half the number of people travelled by bus in Queenstown in December last year, as did in the corresponding month in 2019.
Transport implementation lead Julian Phillips told councillors Covid-19 had hit patronage hard across Otago.
"In Queenstown we have seen a big drop in patronage and that reflects the impact — that is well known — that Covid has had in the area."
Bus use fell by more than 20% in July and August, when bus fares were free, compared with the previous year.
The decline continued in October, November and December, falling 38%, 44% and 46% respectively.
Mr Phillips said the biggest fall was on the Sunshine Bay to Airport and Arrowtown Shotover River routes, which were predominantly tourist routes.
However, the routes primarily used by commuters and residents had increased by up to 17%.
In Dunedin, bus use was up 32% in July and 18% August when bus fares were free, compared with the previous year.
When fare collection resumed with a new $2 flat fare, Dunedin’s patronage dropped 9%, but bus use recovered in the last three months of the year.
Mr Phillips said the city was also set to receive a real-time bus information system, which is already being used in Queenstown, towards the end of the year.
It allows passengers to view the location of buses across any route on big screens at bus stops and on the Orbus website.
Work was being done to make access to the information more mobile-friendly.
Mr Phillips said the service was likely to lead to fewer complaints and would provide more accurate data to help improve its services.
Across Queenstown and Dunedin, 601 complaints were received between November last year and February this year.
About three-quarters of those were about the Dunedin bus service and the majority were about the timeliness of buses.
