“We cannot lose it because it makes us independent.”
A woman recovering from a broken foot who uses the Stoke OnDemand bus service up to four times a week is disappointed at Nelson City Council’s (NCC) decision to cease its operation on 30 April.
Joss Reid says the bus gives her a sense of dignity, by stopping directly in front of her home and transporting her to services such as Countdown Stoke and to other buses, and others in the disability community appreciate the service too.
“I get very dizzy, and I have a lot of falls, I have just got out of a cast for surgery on my foot, and then there’s been a small trip which has aggravated it, so I’m back to a lot of sitting-down time, but for that bus to come right into my ramp is very helpful,” she says.
“There’s two women who have spoken to me who are visually impaired, and they said if it stops, they can’t go into Countdown and do their shopping independently.
“Some of the elderly in different villages, they use that bus, and they book it for a group, and then they take it back… it’s vital, we cannot lose it.”
Joss says while she is a Total Mobility card holder which gives her access to Sun City Taxis services, she would now face extra travel costs. NCC says the decision to end the service was taken once patronage fell to financially unsustainable levels.
Mayor Nick Smith says with the service only operating 12 journeys per week with each costing $215, it was not viable for council to continue the service which was introduced in August last year.
“The key reason for ending the Stoke OnDemand service is that the $215-cost-per-passenger journey is poor use of ratepayer and taxpayer money,” he says.
“We are only recovering an average of $1.50 from passenger fares, leaving a subsidy of $213.50 per passenger journey.
“It would be financially irresponsible to continue with this service at this cost, particularly during a cost-of-living crisis and when rates are under so much pressure.”
NCC says the other cause of the Stoke OnDemand bus’s low usage was due to the new eBus route along Nayland Rd, and that local retirement villages had “good” courtesy coaches.
“We are also finding that people with mobility issues are using taxis under the Council’s Total Mobility scheme, which provides a 75 per cent subsidy and a door-to-door service.”
The Stoke OnDemand service represented a portion of the eBus service’s cost overrun of more than $1m since it’s launch.
License agreements and equipment required for the Stoke OnDemand App service provider came in at a cost of $63,000 and was unbudgeted. The ongoing cost after year one would be $25,000 per year, but council decided to terminate the service.
The OnDemand service will cease at the end of April, but Total Mobility card holders will be able to use eBus free anytime of day from 1 May.
