Children's Bus Fares Being Re-Introduced
Otago Regional Councillors today agreed to raise fares for adults and end free fares for 5- to 12-year-olds. From late September, adult fares will rise from $2 to $2.50 (with a Bee card) and 5- to 18-year-olds will pay a $1.50 fare in both Dunedin and Queenstown.
Public and Active Transport Committee Co-Chair Andrew Noone says, 'This was a difficult decision to make, knowing the impact it will have for people. We are balancing the requirements from central government to increase the proportion of public transport funding from things like fares, rather than rates or government funding, along with community expectations.'
'Community feedback on the Regional Public Transport Plan shows 89% of submitters want us to retain free child fares. We will be outlining our disappointment that the policy we have to work within is not flexible enough or fit for purpose to consider local conditions, especially regarding child fares,' Cr Noone said.
Councillors agreed to write to the Minister of Transport, Minister of Education and Associate Minister of Education to express concern about the unintended consequences of raising child fares to meet private share which could potentially affect school attendance rates.
These decisions are part of the Otago Regional Public Transport Plan review.
Other key decisions
Moving to a zone fare structure in the future was also approved. Further analysis and modelling will be carried out and there is no timeframe for this change yet.
The Council supports public transport connectivity within Otago and will support investigations into community transport, with the timing and scale of any future community transport programme to be decided in future Council meetings.
Some regional upgrades will not happen due to co-funding gaps, but the Council is committed to finding ways to improve connectivity options for Ōamaru, Balclutha and Central Otago.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
West Coast council staff kept busy by information requests
File photo. Photo: 123rf Requests for official information are on the rise on the West Coast, including some described as 'vexatious'. A report to Tuesday's Operations Committee meeting shows the West Coast Regional Council handled 39 LGOIMA (Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act) requests in the June quarter. Nine involved the Taylorville Resource Park consent application. A resource consent hearing for the controversial private dump near Greymouth is set down for two days next month. Compliance visits to mining sites; council staff and contractor numbers; Buller plateau mining consents and all records on historic demolition waste also featured in the list of LGOIMA requests. All but two of the requests were processed in the statutory timeframe, the report said. The Ombudsman had contacted the council once over a report the council initially refused to release. The council had revised its decision but due to an 'internal error' still failed to release the report. That had been rectified, and an apology provided for the error, the report said. The majority of requests were granted in full or in part. The council withheld information on some requests involving the Taylorville Resource Park, on the grounds of protecting commercial information, legal privilege, privacy and free and frank expression of views by or to council staff. Chief executive Darryl Lew said the council had to be mindful of the Privacy Act and be meticulous with redactions in its responses. "It is an ever-increasing and concerning amount of time we put into this. But it's part of transparency (requirements for local government)." Some of the LGOIMA requests could be considered frivolous, he confirmed. "In the legislation, whether they are frivolous, vexatious, recidivist…we've still got to meet their requests. " Chair Peter Haddock said council had been criticised for having too many staff but dealing with 13 or 14 LGOIMA requests a month meant a massive amount of work. "Just looking through some of them, some are coming from the same people all the time, you can read it like a book, and it all comes at a cost to ratepayers. " The simpler requests were being handled in-house, but the more complex ones were still managed by a contractor, staff confirmed. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Mayoral hopeful Andrew Clark opens up on ‘frosty' relationship with brother Nobby Clark
Andrew Clark. Photo: LDR/supplied Invercargill mayoral hopeful Andrew Clark says a "frosty" relationship with brother Nobby didn't stop the current mayor sharing private thoughts on the current council. Clark is visiting Invercargill this week from hometown Nelson, where he is also contesting the Tasman mayoralty under first name Maxwell. His late nomination for Invercargill's top job drew a cold public response from Nobby Clark, who questioned why he was standing in two places under different names. But Andrew Clark claims the pair had a long phone conversation when he made his nomination and Nobby even shared thoughts about the council and councillors, which ran to eight pages of notes. Andrew said he was then "really surprised" when Nobby went public with his criticism the following day. "I put it down to his health needs and he was extremely stressed, and he acknowledged that," he said. Asked what his relationship was like with older brother Nobby now, Andrew replied it was "a bit frosty". Andrew had also reached out to Nobby for a catch-up during his southern trip but received an impolite response. "I rang him yesterday or the day before and told him I'm coming down, I'd like to catch up with him, wouldn't that be nice... And he didn't pick up the phone, he sent an email which was less than courteous," Andrew said on Monday. Nobby Clark. Photo: LDR/supplied Mayor Nobby Clark was approached by Local Democracy Reporting but did not wish to comment. Andrew Clark has contested the Tasman mayoralty multiple times and will try again this election alongside his Invercargill bid. The mayoral hopeful is campaigning in the south on water security, saying no to residential water meters, keeping rates down and sorting council "dysfunction". He has previously made headlines for a land dispute, receiving money from a gang-affiliated event, and spreading misinformation about a dam bursting. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Local body elections needed for only some Waikato council seats
Photo: RNZ / Isra'a Emhail A handful of general wards and half of the Waikato region's Māori wards have been filled unopposed for the upcoming local body elections. Eleven councils (one regional, nine district, and one city) make up local government in Waikato. Only half will be holding elections for one or all of their Māori seats. Two (South Waikato and Waitomo) do not have specific democratic representation for Māori. All the other councils have either Māori wards, or in the case of the regional council a Māori constituency. Waikato District was one of the areas where a single candidate, Tilly Turner, had been elected unopposed to one of their Māori wards, Tai Runga Takiwaa (Waikato district's other Māori ward, Tai Raro Takiwaa, has three candidates standing for the seat). Waikato district's Western Districts general ward was also filled unopposed by Carolyn Eyre. Both Turner and Eyre have been councillors this term. "I put my application in, and I had no one stand against me and I don't know whether that's good or bad," Turner said. Last election three people stood for the seat. Turner believed at least one of the past candidates would stand again. "She was young, talented, but her business is going well... she said no, she has no intention of standing again, because her business is starting to pick up." Turner said the feedback she had received was that she had done a really good job so far and people were happy for her to continue. She had been ready to stand down, but the binding poll on Māori wards, which the government has legislated must occur, motivated her to keep going. "I didn't want to step away and look like I never had confidence in that space, that it wasn't any good." She wasn't certain that the district would be able to retain its two Māori wards in the poll, but it was important to her that people saw her express confidence in the seats. "I need to let people see that I'm really backing the Māori wards, I stood for the first three [years] and I'm happy to stand again," she said. A district where an election for the Māori ward will happen is Ōtorohanga. Five candidates have stood for the two Rangiātea Māori Ward seats, one of whom is the current councillor, Jamiee Tamaki. She said some people wondered why they should get involved when she was already there. "It wasn't just about me, it was about growing our capacity in those spaces, so I just went out and said 'come on you fellas'." She said more candidates allowed people to have a choice. "We can't make change if we're not part of the change," she said. Asked why she thought so many seats in the region had not been contested, Turner thought the amount of central government legislation, which was coming at councils without consultation, was a factor. Abuse of local representatives was another. "The other part of it, which I haven't actually experienced, is the endangerment that councillors are experiencing from people just really ripping into them because of what is going on," Turner said. Tamaki said she also had not experienced any abuse as a councillor and had had an amazing experience in local government. "And I think maybe I'm lucky, I've never had any negativity," she said. Turner believed the Māori voice in local government is going would be important and helpful in the future. However, if the door closed on the Māori wards because of the referendum, she worried it would be hard to open again. "If we can't do it this time, I don't know that we'll ever get to do that connecting between Māori and Pākehā where the Treaty is concerned, and I'm hopeful we can because Māori have a lot to offer - we know how to survive in the toughest of times and this time is getting tougher," she said. Voting for the local body elections opens on 9 September. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
