The new real-time tracking service will cost Whanganui less than $2000 per month Photo / Bevan Conley
The new real-time tracking service will cost Whanganui less than $2000 per month Photo / Bevan Conley
Real-time tracking was introduced for Whanganui buses on Monday, edging the city closer to being a public-transport friendly urban centre.
The Horizons Regional Council's real-time tracking allows passengers to see how far away their bus is and provides data for Horizons to improve routes and timetables via GPS.
Whanganui representative on the council's passenger transport committee, Anthonie Tonnon, said the best way to use real-time tracking was through Google Maps.
The public transport train icon on Google maps' directions search function will tell people how to get to their destination and how many minutes away the bus is.
"It means people no longer have to look through a timetable and plan out routes."
"For Whanganui, it amounts to less than $2000 per month."
Read said the next step was a free-text and app option this year.
Tonnon said Horizons had applied for funding through central government for real-time signs at bus stops in Whanganui which, if accepted will be installed next year.
Anthonie Tonnon said the easiest way to use the new service was through Google Maps. Photo / Dean Purcell
"That will make a big difference for people who don't have smartphones."
He said new real-time tracking for Whanganui buses hopes to be one of the many moving parts to tackle the declining number of people using public transport in Whanganui, which has been going down since 2017 according to the Regional Public Transport Plan.
Tonnon said no silver bullet led to more people using public transport, but a range of things had to be done.
"And we're hoping the combination of this, improving bus stops and the real-time software over time and the new frequent bus route in February will have good results."
The new high-frequency route has been confirmed for February next year, Tonnon said.
Planned changes included a "spine" connector service along the Castlecliff–Aramoho routes.
This new route will run every 20 minutes, 7am to 7pm on weekdays, and 9am to 3pm on Saturdays.
Most Whanganui buses now run hourly on weekdays between 7am and 5.30pm, with an additional service in the morning and afternoon for some routes.
The 2022 Whanganui Public Transport Service survey, by Whanganui District Council and Horizons Regional Council, showed knowledge and awareness was low of the bus services, benefits and where to find information about public transport in Whanganui.
The two top preferred communication channels among the 584 respondents were websites (45 per cent), followed by information at bus stops (40 per cent).
High petrol prices and environmental concerns were top reasons for genuine interest in switching from car travel to public transport.
"We didn't only ask people who use the bus but also people who don't," Tonnon said.
"What we found was many more people would like to take the bus but they don't have the information or it is not convenient enough, which really backed up our approach for the new route."
He said the most common reason people gave regarding why they would like to use the bus was to go shopping.
"The new real-time tracking means you can go to the shops, spend as much time as you like and always know the next bus is not going to be too far away."
He said per capita Wellington's central and local government spends 10 times what places like Whanganui, Gisborne and Blenheim are spending.
"Unfortunately a lot of the investment in public transport has gone to big cities, and there's this huge per-capita disparity in the amount we're spending on services like public transport.
"We are hoping to change that through lobbying the central government, as the funding is split 50/50 between the central and regional governments."
He said not many other cities had real-time tracking, but those that did were leading the way with good public transport, such as in Hamilton and Queenstown.
"What matters is how much you spend per person no matter what size city you are."
The only services that will not have real-time tracking are the Taihape to Palmerston North/Whanganui and the Raetihi-Ohakune buses, as the cost was too high, Read said.
