Horizons Regional Council signs off $1 million public transport funding boosts in draft long-term plan

An additional $550,000 could be invested into urban public transport in 2026/27. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui public transport could be in for a funding boost.

Horizons Regional Council’s draft long-term plan (LTP) still needs an official stamp of approval but if it’s successful, an additional $550,000 will go to Whanganui urban transport in 2026/27, followed by $350,000 and $100,000 in the following two years.

The extra funding was originally mooted to begin in 2025/26 but was pushed back following a vote.

Between Horizons, the Whanganui District Council and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, just over $2 million was invested in Whanganui public transport for 2023/24.

Whanganui District Council’s representative to the Horizons Regional Council passenger transport committee, Anthonie Tonnon said he was pleased to get the money in the draft LTP and he wasn’t too worried about waiting an extra year.

He said it meant the spend on public transport in Whanganui would rise to $48 per person from $22 - 70 per cent of Palmerston North’s spend.

“That’s called the local share - the share that comes from our rates. It gets topped up, usually at around 51 per cent, by petrol excise taxes.

“One of the arguments I make is if you spend less on public transport in your city and when you fill up your car, the taxes that go towards public transport in New Zealand are mostly going towards Wellington, Palmerston North and Auckland.

He said Wellington spent $170 per person on public transport.

The Te Ngaru The Tide service, which runs every 15 minutes, is now taking half of the city’s patronage.

The extra funding could mean adding similar services in Whanganui, Tonnon said.

“We want to move towards what’s called a patronage network - a network that aims to get as many people on the bus as possible - and we know the best way to do that is through services like The Tide.

“I would be advocating to have a new network right at the start of year three (of the LTP, 2026/27) or a little bit sooner.

“Perhaps July 2026 or Autumn 2026, if we’re lucky.”

There could be two or three “Tide-like” routes and others that ran hourly, he said.

If the draft LTP is officially signed off, extra funding of $700,000 in 2026/27 and $800,000 in 2027/28 will be added to regional transport across Whanganui, Palmerston North, Horowhenua, Taranaki and Rangitīkei.

Money for both urban and regional initiatives would come through targeted rates.

Tonnon said neighbouring regions already provided fairly good city-to-city public transport.

“There are four services a day between New Plymouth and Hāwera and eight services a day between Hamilton and Cambridge.

“We looked at the per person spend in Waikato for inter-regional public transport and it’s about $7 per person.

With that figure, there could be three services from Whanganui to the start of the Wellington rail network and four to Palmerston North, he said.

However, getting those services up and running could take longer than the urban networks.

“I would be hoping to see that by the end of 2026.

“If people want to see these things sooner, they can absolutely say that in their submissions (to the LTP).

“This is a huge step forward but both of these things (urban and regional) will need public support.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.