Community transport funding bid rejected
by Ruairi O'Shea · Otago Daily Times Online NewsThe provision of community transport in Wanaka has suffered another setback.
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) last week rejected a recommendation by council staff to establish a contestable fund which would be used to support community transport.
The council instead chose to defer a decision on how community transport would be funded until further planning had been undertaken.
The decision means the town will be unlikely to have a publicly funded bus service until 2031 at the earliest.
Community Link Upper Clutha general manager Kate Murray said enough reports, scoping and trials had already been undertaken into the issue.
‘‘Isn’t it time to actually get on and provide support for the community-based transport providers that are looking for it?
‘‘The trial that Community Link ran a couple of years ago found that there is a need for community transport between Wanaka and Hāwea, and that need is only going to grow with our growing population,’’ Ms Murray said.
Queenstown Lakes District Council deputy mayor Quentin Smith said it was ‘‘disappointing’’ the ORC did not go as far as approving funding for community transport.
Wānaka’s need for alternatives to private vehicles were growing quickly, he said.
‘‘There are environmental reasons, and with the current cost of living, private transport is becoming incredibly expensive.
‘‘There’s transport equity, ensuring that young people, people with disabilities and people who can’t drive have options to get around.
‘‘The thing locals will notice the most is congestion and the amount of infrastructure we need.
‘‘We simply won’t be able to provide enough roads for everyone to be driving around in single passenger vehicles.’’
In Otago Regional Council’s Regional Public Transport Plan 2025-35, the development of a publicly funded bus service in Wānaka was described as an ‘‘aspiration’’ that was ‘‘subject to funding and further study’’, with a proposed time horizon for the public transport service of 2031-36.
Cr Smith stressed efforts were under way to bring public transport forward from that 10-year time scale.
‘‘The first step toward public transport is developing a business case with Otago Regional Council.
‘‘The community board advocated for them to undertake that work, which they’re doing at the moment, and that will hopefully bring public transport to Wānaka much earlier than that 2036 time horizon,’’ Cr Smith said.
In a report delivered to the council to support decision-making, staff described community transport as being ‘‘delivered by the community, for the community’’, and services were usually overseen by community entities like charitable trusts, in response to local needs.
This includes Community Link’s Wheels to Dunstan service, which transports people to medical appointments across Otago, as well as Community Link’s bus trial which connected Wanaka and Hāwea for two three-month periods in 2022 and 2023.
The report described community transport as a ‘‘fragile operating model’’ and said a contestable fund would be needed to ‘‘support, foster and enable community-led transport initiatives that improve accessibility and complement existing public transport services’’.