Sunday buses start this weekend

Environment Waikato is reminding regular bus users and the general public that Sunday bus services kick-off in Hamilton this weekend, with passengers being offered a chance to trial them free (Sunday 28 September only).

The new Sunday services – as well as new public holiday services, increases to Orbiter operating hours and having the Orbiter travel through the Hospital campus – have been introduced to help meet and further expand booming bus use in the city.

To celebrate the new services – and give people a chance to familiarise themselves with a new key routes initiative - bus travel will be free on Sunday 28 September.

The Sunday and public holiday services will run on 12 key routes and these include the Orbiter, Pukete, Silverdale, Dinsdale, Glenview, Nawton, Fairfield, University, Rototuna, Hamilton East Uni and Te Rapa services. The Sunday services will operate on the Saturday timetable, which is hourly. “Key route” flags will be used to mark routes on relevant timetables, on the Environment Waikato website and on all promotional material.

Under the changes, the Orbiter will operate from 6.15am until 10pm on weekdays and 6.15am to 8pm on weekends. These changes have been particularly welcomed by hospital and The Base employees, whose hours of work have previously made bussing to work impossible.

EW’s transport operations manager Bevan Dale urged people to take advantage of the free trial this Sunday 28 September.

“We encourage people to get onboard and take a free ride to see for themselves the growing benefits of bus travel in our city,” said Mr Dale.