Wairarapa public transport review

Greater Wellington is reviewing public transport in Wairarapa, and your feedback has been invaluable in helping us identify the issues and plan changes.

Key issues

The major issues arising from your feedback are currently being investigated. These include:

• A need for more  capacity on some peak hour train services,
• A desire for more off peak services during the week and at the weekends and more convenient peak hour evening departure times.
• A need for better connections between some of bus services and better connections between buses and trains. In particular, many people have asked for better connections between Greytown and Woodside Station.
• A need for a new bus route in Masterton covering the north-eastern area.

Train services - next steps

We are investigating the possibility of  converting some carriages that are currently  being used on the Hutt Valley line for use on the Wairarapa line when there are enough new Matangi trains in service. However the carriages would need to have toilets installed and some other work, which has not been funded for. A small surcharge on Wairarapa fares to fund these costs is one possibility that is being considered.

The review is also investigating an off-peak and weekend shuttle train service between Masterton and Upper Hutt which would link with the electric trains at Upper Hutt. While this sounds simple enough it’s actually not because the Wairarapa trains cannot turn around at Upper Hutt, so a locomotive may be needed at each end of the train.”

The consultant carrying out this review is working closely with the KiwiRail and Tranzit Coachlines, the bus operator, on some options and solutions to the issues that have been raised.

Any changes will be subject to available funding and this may mean the cutting of some poorly used services to pay for services which more people want.

Summary of the results of the survey of train passengers.

Full report of train passenger survey.

Bus services - next steps

Changes to Wairarapa bus services, including a new eastern Masterton bus route, more bus services between Woodside Station and Greytown, and the removal of some poorly patronised services are planned to take effect from late September.

A new weekday bus service on the east side of Masterton will run from Church Street around the Cameron Crescent area via Johnstone Street and Worksop Road. There’ll be three services a day, between 10am and 3pm.

Other weekday Masterton bus services will be altered slightly to include some new facilities on their routes. The Masterton West route, no.201, will include the Marae Health Centre in Cole Street and the new Mitre 10 MegaCentre in Ngaumutawa Road. And Route 203, the Masterton-Lansdowne Circuit, will be extended to run to Lansdowne Village in Titoki Street.

All the weekday Masterton routes will run three times a day, instead of four. Passenger numbers on the last services for the day are very low so removal of these services will help pay for the new east Masterton route.

There will be more bus services between Woodside Station and Greytown. At the moment buses connect only with peak hour train services. In future there’ll be connecting bus services to and from Woodside Station for all weekday and Saturday trains. The only exception will be the late night Friday trains, as bus connections with these services are not well patronised at all.

However, this review is cost neutral so if we’re putting on more services, we’ll need to reduce some poorly patronised ones. Therefore,  weekend bus services between Masterton, Featherston and Martinborough will be reduced. From late September, bus services will run only on Saturdays. Saturday is the more popular day of the weekend for the service and this does give people some weekend service.

Reducing services always involves difficult decisions. Currently each passenger who takes the bus between Masterton, Featherston and Martinborough pays an average $3 fare. Greater Wellington subsidises every passenger to the tune of about $16 per journey. This level of subsidy is not sustainable.

The two late Friday night bus services between Martinborough and Featherston will also no longer run when the changes take effect. Patronage on these services is very low.

Background information

 Buses
Greater Wellington contracts Tranzit Coachlines to provide the following bus services in Wairarapa:

• Within Masterton (Routes 201, 202 and 203), at off-peak times on weekdays only.
• Between Masterton and Featherston Station (Route 200), seven days a week.
• Between Featherston Station and Martinborough (Route 200 and 205), seven days a week,
• Between Greytown and Woodside Station (Route 204), at peak-times on weekdays only.

Trains
Greater Wellington contracts Tranz Metro to provide the following train services between Masterton and Wellington:

• Three peak-time services in each direction each week day
• Two off-peak services in each direction on week days and at weekends
• A late night Friday service in each direction.

Other services
Greater Wellington also subsidises the following services in Wairarapa:

• The Total Mobility service for people with disabilities
• The Red Cross transport service.

Current patronage levels and costs

• About 690,000 passenger trips are made on the train each year.
• About 130,000 passenger trips are made on the buses each year.
• About 18,500 trips are made on the Total Mobility scheme each year.
• Wairarapa ratepayers contribute about $600,000 a year to subsidise these services.

The 2004/05 public transport review
Several changes were made as a consequence of the last review in 2004/05, including the introduction of new bus services, wheechair accessible vehicles and combined bus/train tickets. No changes were made to the train timetables, but 18 new carriages were introduced in 2007 and train stations were upgraded.

Need more information?

If you would like more information, or have any questions please email ptreview@gw.govt.nz or call Metlink on 0800 801 700.