Parent Otago Regional Council Service type bus service | Locale New Zealand | |
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Service area Dunedin (also Queenstown) Routes 18 Weekdays; 12 off-peak (nights & weekends) Hubs The Octagon, Centre City New World supermarket (Cumberland St) | ||
Public transport in Dunedin, New Zealand is mainly by bus. Two bus companies, Go Bus Transport and Ritchies Transport operate routes under their respective brands, in co-operation with or under contract to the Otago Regional Council. There are 18 weekday routes and 12 weekend/public holiday routes.
Contents
- Bus operators
- Weekdays and Saturdays
- Weekday evenings Sundays and Public Holidays
- Other transport services
- Organising public transport in Dunedin
- Fares
- History of public transport in Dunedin
- References
Bus fares are paid for by cash, or by the electronic ticketing system GoCard which replaced paper multi-trip tickets in November 2007.
Bus operators
The Dunedin bus network is operated with over 55 low floor wheelchair-accessible buses, and a further 2-3 non-wheelchair accessible buses mainly used at peak hours. Bus route service contracts are often split between weekday services and weeknight/Sunday/holiday services. There are currently (in 2014) two local bus companies:
Weekdays and Saturdays
Weekday and Saturday services run Monday to Friday from 6:30am to between 6:00pm and 7:00pm (depending on route), when the Weekday evening services take over, and from about 7am to 10pm on Saturdays.
Most bus routes from the north and west are interconnected with routes from the south, with buses continuing from one route through to the other, forming one long bus route. For example, buses from Pine Hill continue though the Octagon to Lookout Point, and vice versa. Buses are signed and numbered by their final destination, so a bus from Pine Hill will be signed "Lookout Point 40."
Key
Notes
Weekday evenings, Sundays and Public Holidays
Weekday evenings services operate from about 6pm to 11pm and Sundays and Public Holidays services run from about 9am to 6pm. All services are operated by Go Bus Transport and all accept wheelchairs and bikes.
Other transport services
Taxi companies in Dunedin include the following:
There are no conventional bus services to Dunedin International Airport: this airport is served by a large fleet of shuttle vans provided by several operators including most of the local taxi companies. Airport shuttle vans typically travel non-stop to or from the airport and meander about the city and suburbs picking up or dropping passengers at each address.
Organising public transport in Dunedin
The vast majority of Dunedin's bus network is designed, specified, contracted and subsidised by the Otago Regional Council and funded by ratepayers. Buses use the individual companies' livery with Otago Regional Council stickers added. Until recently, all services operated under the brand Gobus; this ended when a bus company with a similar name began serving the city. A couple of bus routes are operated commercially outside the Regional Council's control but still co-operate with the council to provide an integrated service. All services are regulated by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA). The Dunedin City Council has no administrative role other than as provider of the road infrastructure (with the exception of State Highways, for which NZTA is the provider), street furniture such as signs and seats and regulation of parking at bus stops. However, the city council is involved in discussions with the regional council over taking over the management of public transport.
Fares
All bus services except the Palmerston service operate on a zone-based fare scheme. There are seven concentric fare zones, with Zone 1 containing central Dunedin, and Zone 7 containing Mosgiel, Brighton, and Harington Point. Fares on the Palmerston service are levied independently of the zone system.
Fares are either paid in cash to the driver of the bus, or by GoCard. The GoCard is a radio frequency identification stored value card, similar to London's Oyster Card and identical (except for branding) to the Metrocard used for public transport in Christchurch. GoCards are bought from the bus driver, or from Otago Regional Council or Dunedin City Council offices for $5, with a minimum top-up value of $10.
From 1 October 2010, bus fares are:
History of public transport in Dunedin
The Dunedin City Council operated other forms of public transport — the Dunedin cable tramway system (similar to the famous San Francisco cable cars) operated between 1881 and 1957; electric trams operated on several routes from 1900 to 1956; and trolleybuses from 1950 to 1982.
New Zealand Government Railways Department operated Commuter trains from the Dunedin Railway Station to Wingatui and Mosgiel, and to Port Chalmers until 1982 and 1979, respectively. They also operated motor buses to the suburbs of Warrington, Cherry Farm, Brighton, Outram, Mosgiel.
In early times, there were ferries connecting the central city to Port Chalmers and Portobello, but these ceased in the 1930s when road connections along the harbour's edge were improved.
Former public transport operators companies in Dunedin include Turnbulls (Dunedin to Portobello); Newtons (Dunedin to Waverley), Otago Road Services (Dunedin to the suburbs of Green Island, Abbotsford and Fairfield) and Cesta Travel, later called Southeastern (a wide range of routes at various times).
Dunedin's largest bus company, Citibus grew from the city's municipal public transport department, DCT, which operated electric trams, cable cars, trolleybuses and diesel buses. It was taken over in 2011 by Invercargill Passenger Transport which in turn became part of Go Bus Transport. About this time, the regional council ceased using its brand Gobus to avouid confusion with the newly arrived company Go Bus.
The Taieri Gorge Railway has expressed interest in running a reinstated commuter rail service in Dunedin, but has no plans to proceed with the idea without funding. The Otago Regional Council is opposed, maintaining that Dunedin's passenger transport requirements are being adequately served by the bus system.