Improvements to Palmerston North bus services begin today

Based on public feedback during their 2015-25 Long-term Plan and recent Annual Plan process, Horizons Regional Council has made further improvements to Palmerston North urban bus services, which begin today.

Horizons councillor Rachel Keedwell says the latest improvements include extended Monday - Friday hours of operation for the city’s urban routes, with the last service now departing the Main St Terminal at 8pm.

“We have also improved the weekend timetable,” say Cr Keedwell.

“Services will now operate 8am – 6pm and will run every 40 minutes on Saturdays and every 60 minutes on Sundays.

“The changes have come about following a comprehensive review of the Palmerston North bus network that we carried out in 2014. A suite of improvements were approved by Council in response to the public feedback we received.”

Earlier in 2017, Horizons increased the frequency of the Fernlea Heights route and began a trial of 10 minute peak frequency for the Milson-Cloverlea service.

The service improvements launched today are the next round of changes and apply to all Palmerston North urban services except Summerhill and Massey University routes.

The new timetables were updated at bus stops over the weekend, and are also available via Horizons website and customer service centres, Palmerston North City Council, i-Site, Tranzit and other usual outlets.

There is no change to fares for these improvements. Bus services are funded via a targeted rate in the area in which the service operates, a 50 per cent subsidy from the New Zealand Transport Agency, and fares from passengers. Organisations such as Massey University and UCOL contribute to the Palmerston North urban bus services so their students can travel free of charge, ratepayers do not fund this free travel.

ENDS

© Scoop Media