Strong response to Metro Strategy consultation 2010

Environment Canterbury has received 1900 responses following the latest round of public consultation on further improving Metro services. Wide ranging views came from bus-users and potential customers within the Greater Christchurch area which includes the city and parts of Waimakariri and Selwyn districts.

Forty-five percent of the responses for the Metro Strategy review came from regular bus users, 36 percent from infrequent users, and 11 percent who do not currently use the service.

Environment Canterbury acting director operations, Wayne Holton-Jeffreys, says that public consultation included mailbox drops, letters to community groups, radio and newspaper advertising and talking to passengers.

“It’s great to receive such a wide range of views and interests. The more people that tell us about the kind of services they would like, the more confident we can be that our plans for Metro will meet people’s needs into the future,” he says.

“Public input is still being looked at in detail by the 25 community and elected representatives that make up the Passenger Transport Advisory Group but there are some clear trends emerging.”

Ninety-three percent of respondents thought that Environment Canterbury should continue working to encourage greater use of public transport and most agreed with current funding levels.

“As part of the feedback questionnaire, we ask people to rate the five most important targets in the existing strategy – this is one way of testing whether people’s priorities are changing.

“Reliability came top, followed by increased bus frequency. Next was bus priority – the creation of separate bus and cycle lanes to help shorten journey times during rush hour traffic and make sure buses turn up on time every time. Investigations into future public transport mode options and park and ride were also rated highly.

“Park and ride is a new entry in this top five and this shows that people are looking at ways of using their cars less rather than expecting buses to stop at their door,” says Mr Holton-Jeffreys.

“The Passenger Transport Advisory Group will help us to turn people’s suggestions into new and relevant targets for the new Metro Strategy. We hope to present a draft version to Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City, Selwyn and Waimakariri District councils for adoption by the end of July 2010.”

For further information: Wayne Holton-Jeffreys, Acting Director Operations, 03 372 7234.

For more information about Metro services, visit www.metroinfo.org.nz or call Metroinfo on 366 88 55.