Brand new buses headed for Wellington

A fleet of new, modern, more environmentally friendly buses will be hitting the roads in mid-2018 following a competitive tender for bus services in the Wellington region.

Local, family-owned Masterton-based Tranzit Group Ltd is the preferred bidder for eight contracts and UZABus which is based in Palmerston North, is the preferred partner for the bus contract in Kapiti.

GWRC Chair Chris Laidlaw says the decision is great news for Wellingtonians with significant benefits for ratepayers, taxpayers and bus users.

“We’re excited at the prospect of working with Tranzit Group and UZABus to bring a modern bus service to the region and its people. Both are locally-owned family businesses with over 160 years’ of combined experience in delivering quality services to passengers and drivers,” Cr Laidlaw says.

Cr Laidlaw said Tranzit had given Councillors a commitment to employ as many bus drivers as possible from the region’s existing workforce.

Tranzit Managing Director Paul Snelgrove says the company will hire another 380 drivers, with as many as possible coming from the Metlink system.

Tranzit would also build 228 new buses, “with as many built by the Kiwi Bus Builders team as it can handle.”

UZABus managing director Justin Allan says “the company is delighted to be confirmed as the preferred bidder for the Kapiti Coast area and looks forward to helping the regional council to modernise the bus network.”

Both companies will deliver a new, more environmentally friendly bus fleet that will improve air quality across the region and reduce emissions of harmful pollutants by at least 38 percent in Wellington and 84 percent in the Hutt Valley.

Cr Laidlaw said we are likely to see the introduction of electric buses to Wellington city, further improving environmental benefits.

The outcome of the tender is expected to reduce operating costs by several million dollars a year, paving the way for new public transport initiatives such as fare discounts.

Cr Laidlaw acknowledged that today’s decision would be disappointing for those companies that were unsuccessful but today’s decision would start to provide certainty.

“We’d like to thank everyone who bid and to remind people that we will still be working closely with our other incumbent providers, who will continue to make up over 30 percent of the market.”

The announcement of the preferred partners for these nine contracts is another step in the long-term transformation of the region’s public transportation system.

“Over the next year, we will be announcing new routes, measures to reduce congestion and how we’re making the passenger experience more seamless.”

Timetables remain the same for now, with new buses and routes scheduled to be introduced in mid-2018.

Ends

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