A plan to expand bus services in Whangārei has been thwarted by a nationwide driver shortage.
Just 0.7% of Whangārei residents use a public bus to get to work, compared with 4.2% across New Zealand, according to the 2018 Census.
Buses on key Whangārei CityLink routes run every 30 to 60 minutes during the week, while no services in Northland run on Sundays.
But a plan to expand the bus services, particularly to cater for more school children, has been delayed for more than a year due to the driver shortage.
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Northland Regional Council transport manager Chris Powell said extra trips were planned on five routes to and from Whangārei’s main high schools and Whangārei Intermediate.
The council budgeted $250,000 a year for the extra trips and the operator, Ritchies, bought new buses and five new ticket machines.
The extra trips were due to start in the first term of 2022 but have not been able to get off the ground yet, as Ritchies is unable to provide extra drivers.
Powell said the extra trips will start as soon as Ritchies is able to recruit and train more drivers.
Denise Piper/Stuff
The bus driver shortage has stopped Whangārei’s CityLink services from increasing to cater for more passengers. (File photo)
However, no date has been given by the operator yet.
The council was also planning on increasing buses on its Whangārei CityLink routes through Kamo and Tikipunga, Onerahi and Maunu from the middle of this year.
These extra services are also dependent on Ritchies finding enough drivers to run them, Powell said.
“The Northland Regional Council will continue to work with the operator on increasing the service as the driver availability situation improves.”
Despite the new services not getting off the ground, the council is commending Ritchies for the way it has handled the bus driver shortage.
Just four trips in Whangārei have had to be cancelled this year due to the driver shortages.
That’s a drop in the bucket compared with the 1000 services permanently cut by Auckland Transport.
“When looking around the rest of the country this is an incredible achievement by the bus operator and staff,” Powell said.
Correction: The original headline on this story said council had bought the new buses. That was not correct. The new buses were bought by the operator, Ritchies.
