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Community to help set direction for transport
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Community to help set direction for transport
Horizons Regional Council is encouraging Palmerston North residents to get on board with a bus review that could see major changes made to the network over the next few years.
Stage one of the three stage review begins this week with Horizons asking for ideas on the features people feel are most important such as timetables, routes and service structure.
Horizons transport planner Kelly Curry says the first principles review takes a ‘clean slate’ approach to network design and prompts people to imagine the city without any form of public bus service.
“The key question for this review is: what is the optimal public transport network for Palmerston North into the future?” Mrs Curry says.
“We want to know what people would like to see if they had the opportunity to design Palmerston North’s public transport system from scratch.
“Once we have this feedback we’ll work to develop a series of options and will go back to our community in 2014 to determine which network they prefer.”
Bus services in Palmerston North are currently made up of six urban loop services which alternate directions, as well as six routes between the central city and Massey University that take a more direct route or run via areas of student accommodation.
Mrs Curry says some of the things for people to consider as part of this review include whether they would like a transport system that runs more frequently and gets them to their destination faster or whether they’d prefer a service that covers most areas and runs close to every home.
“This is your chance to help set the direction for public transport in your city,” Mrs Curry says.
“We welcome any ideas people may have and if you send us your ideas by Friday 12 July you could even win a month’s free travel on our buses.”
People can contribute their ideas by emailing transport@horizons.govt.nz with the subject line ‘Palmerston North Bus Review’, by sending a letter to Freepost 217922, Transport Team, Horizons Regional Council, Private Bag 11025, Manawatu Mail Centre or online via www.horizons.govt.nz
More information about the review can also be found on the public transport section of Horizons’ website.
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