Using Public Transport to travel to work? The trend is towards increased use. The ranking of the top 7 cities has not changed since the 2001 census and all are trending up. Hamilton is also trending up but dropped in ranking to below Queenstown in the 2018 Census. Tauranga, like Queenstown, has done well: starting from a low base, the percentage of people taking the bus to work increased fourfold between 2001 and 2018.
Queenstown’s success is driven by the fact that ‘recent modelling has shown that the peak hour mode share for Public buses needs to rise to 22% by 2025 to allow Queenstown to grow without severe congestion’. (Public and Passenger Transport Facilities Indicative Business Case Nov 2017). Compare this to Hamilton’s target to ‘Increase the proportion of passenger transport journeys to work to 7%’.
I am not sure of the importance of the ‘105 annual trips per person’ stated above. Wellington had 73 trips* per person in 2006 with a mode share for public transport well above Hamilton’s target of 7%. Below is a snapshot from a 1968 study showing bus mode share at 6% and the table below that show trips per person at 58. *Access Hamilton 2010 passenger transport action plan page 11
Hamilton’s target of 7% mode share by bus is not ambitious compared to Queenstown’s target to ‘increase .. PT mode share in peak hour from 5% in 2018 to 22% in 2025 and 41% in 2045’. (Link p6)
Presently, access to the bus stops along some routes in Hamilton is extremely dangerous. As an example, along Ulster Street/Te Rapa road, there are gaps between safe pedestrian crossings of over 1 km and a disconnected footpath along the west side of Te Rapa road. Bus use in Hamilton is being suppressed by the low priority given to safe access to bus stops.
John Lawson
April 4, 2021 at 11:59 am
There’s very little priority for Hamilton buses, so that they get stuck in jams even more than cars. Why catch a bus, when they take a lot longer and cost $3.40 for a return fare; a lot more than a litre of petrol for a lot less distance. Most only run half hourly, so it’s often faster to walk than wait for a bus. On Thursday the 3.30pm bus to Cambridge was nose to tail along Clyde St, so it took 27mins just to get 3.1km to Wairere Drive; an average just above normal walking speed. It’s surprising so many people use buses in Hamilton.