1 December 2015
Taranaki Regional Council is helping Christmas stockings get filled by expanding its Saturday bus services in New Plymouth.

The Council’s Transport Services Manager Chris Clarke says Citylink buses, covering New Plymouth, Bell Block and Waitara, will extend existing Saturday services from two to nine routes in the lead up to Christmas. The services will run from morning to mid-afternoon with at least four return bus trips on each route. The services will run on 5, 12 and 19 December.

“With these regular bus services, people can bus into town on Saturday and do their Christmas shopping without the hassles of finding a park or worrying about their car.

“We’re trialing the extra Saturday services to help support bus patrons get their Christmas shopping done, and to assess demand for potential future Saturday bus services,” Mr Clarke says.

“We’ve recently been looking into how we might introduce more regular Saturday bus services, but it really depends on demand during this trial and how well they’re used by the public.”

The Saturday services will follow the regular Monday to Friday routes, with buses operating as they do during the off-peak period. Fitzroy, The Valley, Bell Block and Waitara routes have been combined into one route with four return services catering to these areas. It means five buses will operate over nine routes instead of 1 bus over two routes.

The special Christmas timetable is available at the Council’s website, the Taranaki Public Transport Facebook Group, Ariki St Bus Centre, i-SITE or Library Plus, or on Citylink buses.

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