Governors Bay is 15 mins from Lyttelton or over the Port Hills from Christchurch. Photo / Christchurch City Council
Governors Bay is 15 mins from Lyttelton or over the Port Hills from Christchurch. Photo / Christchurch City Council
Governors Bay residents are questioning why they weren't involved in a recent extension of a bus route around the bays.
Environment Canterbury and Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula Community Board members Reuben Davidson and Tyrone Fields trumpeted the service to Rapaki Bay when it was reintroduced two weeks ago.
But members of the community 4km further along say they have not heard anything about when they might have a service of their own again.
When bus route 28 was under review earlier this year, residents of Governors Bay sent 49 submissions to ECan, Governors Bay Community Transport Trust former chairwoman Jennifer Swaffield said.
The submissions encouraged ECan to extend the route to Governors Bay.
However, resident David Gregory said ECan ignored submissions as no one had heard anything back. Swaffield did not recall anyone having contact either.
ECan senior manager public transport, Stewart Gibbon, said it received feedback from the Governors Bay community during the review, but most submissions were outside the scope of it.
However, staff were to perform another service review for the bays, including Governors, and a review of improved schedules for workers requiring earlier services.
Governors Bay would be incorporated into the service review planned for 2023/24, he said.
"We value all feedback from our communities and encourage the Governors Bay community to continue having their say on public transport."
Community board member Tyrone Fields said he was aware of the desire for an increase in public transport around the harbour.
While supportive of the Governors Bay community's needs, he acknowledged the topic was complex to solve.
"In a world where Environment Canterbury funds bus routes and [city council] funds infrastructure, it needs co-ordination between the different stakeholders to get the cut-through against a narrative of service and funding cuts," he noted.
Fellow member Reuben Davidson said the bus add-on showed "how effective it is when communities, who have the need, consult directly with the regional council who manage the resource".
The service was just a "positive step, but not the end of the conversation," he said.
Fields commented that "public transport services to the Lyttelton bays have been eroded over the years, both for school kids and for residents".
"The recent win for Cass Bay was welcome and hard fought by residents and there is plenty to do."
Governors Bay Community Association chairwoman Karen Banwell said the issue wasn't easy to solve because though the community wanted a bus, the current bus 28 went through Lyttelton, which was out of the way.
The last time a public transport bus entered Governors Bay was 11 years ago.
Only after persistent campaigning did ECan provide the service, which was enjoyed for three weeks before it was terminated after the February 22, 2011 earthquake.
Banwell said the bus service went through Dyers Pass and linked up to other services at The Princess Margaret Hospital.
Not only were the roads damaged, but ECan said there was not enough patronage to keep it going; something Swaffield said was "a bit unfair" considering it had run for so little time.
The GovBus service wound up earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
The organisation did, however, grant the community some funds for the Transport Trust to start running the GovBus in 2013.
But the community had to manage the bus themselves and were entirely reliant on volunteer drivers.
After Covid-19 rolled through, the already struggling service ground to a halt and the trust was officially disestablished recently.
"There's only so much you can expect people to do," Swaffield said.
Community board chairwoman Tori Peden said the board would be "more than happy to help" and advocate for the Governors Bay residents.
Every year the board sent in submissions to ECan and Peden said they had been bringing the community to the table.
If the bus was reinstated, Swaffield said not only would residents use it to get to Christchurch central, but others would use it to visit Governors Bay; something they saw people doing when GovBus was running.
