The Bus and Coach Association welcomes the recent budget announcement by the Labour Government to invest $61 million over the next four years towards ensuring a sustainable, skilled workforce of bus drivers nationwide.

“This is great news” says CEO Ben McFadgen. “There has been a progressive shortage of bus drivers over the last five to ten years which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. This funding to support bus driver pay and conditions will help operators recruit and retain bus drivers to keep our transport network running nationwide. The Government’s direct investment in improving pay for bus drivers sustainably is very timely and an important recognition of this vital workforce. We have seen how important this workforce is for our communities during the pandemic. Now it is important that we move quickly to distribute this funding to the areas that need it most.”

Tied in with the Emissions Reduction Plan, improving public transport services which this funding forms a part of, is vital to enabling mode shift and getting people out of private cars and using the public transport system.

“We are seeing the Government’s real commitment to fund actions that will reduce emissions and improve lives” says Mr McFadgen, “These actions show clear support for New Zealand’s response to the urgent challenge of climate change, while also helping to address the current economic imbalance experienced by bus drivers. We are looking forward to working with government on drafting operational policy that supports a new sustainable public transport framework.”

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