MEDIA RELEASE

Murupara bus service may close

For immediate release: Thursday 25 August 2005

A bus service that links Rotorua and Murupara will have to shut down if people don’t start using it soon.

Environment Bay of Plenty has run the service every week for the past two years. At first, it was quite successful, says transport policy manager Garry Maloney. “We had enough passengers to meet our targets so we kept it going.”

However, numbers have since dropped off, with an average of just three passengers a trip.

“For a while now, we have not had enough people to make it worthwhile. We are willing to keep it going if people want us too – but, if they do, they will need to start using it right away.”

Mr Maloney says Environment Bay of Plenty’s regional development committee will make a decision at its December meeting.

ENDS

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