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Amid a “clear decline” in the use of public transport, Hawke’s Bay residents will have their say on potential changes to the system in early 2025.

Bus patronage on the GoBay and MyWay services has almost halved during the past decade.

The stark decline, the likely reasons for it and potential answers to make public transport a more attractive travel option for those living in Napier and Hastings are revealed in the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s (HBRC) recently published Land Transport Plan (LTP).

The document was prepared by civic leaders and planners to set out to the Government why there was a $4.7 billion roading spend needed across the region.

It quotes Census figures from 2018 that only 0.5% of Hawke’s Bay’s working population travelled to work by bus.

“However, 14.5% of children travel to school by either school or public bus,” the LTP said.

“While the Census data supporting this is at least five years old, patronage data also reveals that public transport is not a preferred choice, showing a clear decline or downward trend in patronage over time.”

In the 2022-23 year, 421,561 passengers used GoBay or MyWay services.

That was compared to the 800,000 passengers who travelled on the bus routes in the 2013-14 financial year, taking them a combined 3.8 million kilometres.

HBRC policy and regulation general manager Katrina Brunton told Hawke’s Bay Today the decline in patronage had been a trend “for a period of time”.

Factors included services not running for about a month in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing driver shortages.

“These had an impact on service reliability and frequency, which has also impacted patronage. HBRC and Go Bus have worked hard to arrest these trends and were able to fully reinstate services from January 29, 2024. Since then, we have seen patronage increase again.”

The council’s LTP added the factors that had hampered the public transport system, which led to cancellations, had meant “people began to lose confidence in the service”.

Brunton said the Hawke’s Bay residents would soon be able to have their say on the shape of public transport in the region.

“The Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP) is reviewed every three years and is due to be reviewed in early 2025 and will be put out for public consultation,” she said.

The regional council’s previous consultation on a new plan in 2022 proposed a “move away from meandering loop services to a frequent and direct bi-directional service that would get people to where they wanted to go efficiently and effectively”.

The plan was adopted at the end of 2022.

“Since then staff have been working towards developing the new network,” Brunton said.

“However, funding constraints in the current NLTP (National Land Transport Plan) have impacted our ability to both implement the new network and also expand hours of the day and days of the week improvements envisaged in the plan.”

The LTP document said from mid-2025, the council wanted to “deliver a public transport service that is efficient, safe and accessible while improving the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our communities”.

“The new bus services are designed around the needs of current and future passengers, enabling greater integration and efficiency across the network.

“The new bus service proposes a move to a high frequency, more direct patronage model with routes that run the same way in both directions, reducing travel times, and increasing reliability and frequency.”

Given the previous lack of faith in the system, the council document said a proposed new plan would be aimed at “ensuring that bus services consistently run on time, giving passengers confidence to use the network”.

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.