8 February 2007

Stagecoach Wellington / Greater Wellington Regional Council joint statement
Stagecoach Wellington Customers – An Apology

Bus operator Stagecoach Wellington today apologised to its customers for cancelling some bus services without warning.

An on-going problem of driver shortages has caused disruption to bus services in Wellington city and long delays for some passengers.

Services on many Wellington city bus routes have been affected since Monday, including some school bus services.

Greater Wellington Regional Council, which funds and promotes Metlink, Greater Wellington’s public transport network, today met with Stagecoach Wellington to seek clarification over how the disruption happened and to agree what action would be taken to resolve the problem.

Wayne Hastie, Greater Wellington’s Public Transport Divisional Manager, said: “We have a positive relationship with Stagecoach. It is a company with a good track record in operating bus services in Wellington city.

“The day-to-day running of services is a matter for the bus operator. However, Greater Wellington is responsible for monitoring service standards and in this case the service standards have not been met.

“We have met with colleagues at Stagecoach and because of staff shortages some services will not operate in the morning and afternoon peak periods on the busy routes. This is likely to continue until Monday 19 February when services should revert to normal.

“We will continue to work with Stagecoach Wellington to ensure an efficient and reliable service is resumed as soon as possible.”

Routes expected to have reduced services in the morning include: Karori Park, Kingston, Haitaitai,Miramar/Seatoun, Strathmore, Island Bay, Lyall Bay and Houghton Bay. Afternoon services on many routes will also be affected however all school services will run as scheduled. Afternoon services will be reduced to ten minutes in the peak commuter periods.

Ian Turner, Stagecoach Wellington Commercial Director, said: ”Stagecoach Wellington seeks to maintain high standards of service to all its passengers.

“Unfortunately we have fallen well short of the standards we aim for over the past few days, due to driver shortages coinciding with the resumption of school services after the long vacation.

“We are sorry for the undoubted inconvenience our problems have caused many of our customers.

“We are working hard to get services back to normal as quickly as possible: we have a number of new drivers who will finish their training in the next two weeks, and we will be bringing in drivers from our Hutt Valley and Auckland businesses to help out in the meantime.”

ENDS

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