PLANNED CHANGES TO LOCAL BUS SERVICES

PLANNED CHANGES TO LOCAL BUS SERVICES

Many people have contacted us regarding the proposed changes to the local bus services.  Below is an outline of the changes.   Have a read and put in your submission by Monday 16th June at the link at the bottom of this post. 

Planned changes to bus services across the city are now out for comment.  You can find details including maps and an outlined of all changes at http://www.metroinfo.co.nz/news/Pages/Metro-Bus-Services-Review-May-2014.aspx#plan

Of particular interest to Halswell People are changes to the current #7 Halswell Queenspark and the #60 Hillmorton – Parklands services.   The Metrostar will be replaced by the #100 service and the Comet

What is planned?

The #7: Halswell-Queenspark

This will run from Halswell West to the supermarket hub and then straight up Halswell Road and Lincoln Road, past the hospital and into the central city before heading out to the Palms and Burwood Hospital.

The services will go every 10 mins during peak times and 15 mins during off peak (about the same as now)

The #60

Will travel between Halswell, central city and the Palms via Halswell Road through Hoon Hay, Barrington Mall and then down Selwyn St to Hagley Ave. This service is largely unchanged at the Halswell end, but will extend to cover Halswell on the Park subdivision.  From the Central City there will be a new route out to the The Palms and New Brighton and the #60 will no longer travel via Burwood Hospital.

The service will go every 15 mins peak time and 30 mins off peak

 The #100

This service will travel from Halswell School past the Supermarket,down Oakridge to Wales St then down Checketts Ave, through Westlake to Dunbars Rd, Awatea Rd before turning right and travelling through Wigram Skies and coming out onto Birmingham Drive (once the new roading and overbridge is put into that area). From Birmingham Drive it travels to Riccarton Mall.  From there it will go down Riccarton Rd to Staven Rd, then through to Heaton Street, Merivale Mall and then the Palms via St Albans.

This service will go every 15 mins peak time and 30 mins off peak

The Comet

The Comet is Halswell’s link to Hornby, and the Airport.  It will go from the Supermarket Hub round the Nichols Junction Halswell Triangle then along to Dunbars Rd, McMahon Dr, Aidanfield Drive then through Wigram Skies to Springs Road, Amyes Road.  From there it goes through the Hub at Hornby before going down Carmen Road, and Russley Rd to the Aiport and then on through to Northlands via Memorial Ave, Roydvale Ave and Harewood Rd. The route between Northlands and Redwood will remain the same as current route.

This service will go every 15 mins during peak times and every 30 mins during off peak times.

Possible Issues 

1) A lack of services to schools from different parts of Halswell. 

Children bussing into Halswell to go to Aidanfield, or Discovery schools will have to get off the bus and cross Halswell Road in an 80km zone where there are no refuges or other ways to safely cross.

Highschool children will not now be able to easily get over to schools in the Riccarton/ Middleton area.  Depending on where you live in Halswell, it could also take two buses to get to Hillmorten High.

2) All services up to Kennedys Bush will stop.

3) There is no mention of park and ride facilities or even places to lock up bicycles safely for the day.

4) At peak times the services might not run often enough to offset the need that many will have to change buses in Halswell, depending on where they want to go.  Changes that don't work well can make the difference between a trip taking 1/2 an hour or 1.5 hours to get from A to B.

How will these changes affect you?  Please let Environment Canterbury know by going to http://www.metroinfo.co.nz/Pages/Metro-Bus-Services-Review-Feedback-form.aspx  and filling in your feedback.  

Read the outline from David Hawke of the Halswell Residents Association below to see what they think about the proposed changes.  Feel free to pick and choose from these and add to them depending on your own opinions and concerns

What do you like about the proposed services?.

• Increased coverage, to Halswell on the Park and to the new subdivisions in Halswell West. Coverage of the Halswell West subdivisions will decrease their isolation from the rest of Halswell.
• Link from Halswell to the Airport (the Comet). Getting the bus to the airport from Halswell is presently too hard to be of any use.
• More direct route to central city for no. 7 bus, which should make the transit time more acceptable. Currently in rush hour this is 45 min or more.
• Increased frequency for no. 7 bus will be hugely helpful (although the times of the day the service runs will be critical - see below).

What would you change?

• Matching bus routes to primary school zones would facitate use by children travelling to school. Particular examples are:

1.      Bus coverage to Halswell School from its enrolment zone is limited;

2.      Oaklands & Aidanfield lose their bus route to Halswell's local (in-zone) secondary school (Hillmorton High School)

The provision of dedicated school buses as part of the Metrostar replacement does not address the above examples.

• The loss of coverage for Aidanfield reinforces that suburb's isolation from any cultural facilities, whether in Halswell (the pool, library, sports fields, local shops, bars/cafes) or wider Christchurch (sports stadiums, events venues). .

Would you like to make any further comments?

• A good bus service (frequent, reliable, comfortable, clean) should decrease congestion and (if people choose to live car-free or car-lite) make life less expensive and more civilised.
• Service times must allow for shift workers 7 days a week. This includes shift change times at Christchurch Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital in paticular.
• Buses need somewhere to park while waiting for their next run, so provision of some sort of bus interchange in or near Halswell should be accelerated.
• The implementation of the bus priority lane along Halswell Rd (and associated four-laning) needs to be accelerated to make the most of the increased frequency of the no. 7 bus.