The central city eBus depot shifts from Bridge Street to Millers Acre this Friday.
The project has been delivered under budget and opened on time. Weather delays mean it will not be fully completed until February.
An efficient and safe public transport service is part of any modern, successful city and particularly important for visitors, younger and older people. A good public transport service improves transport choices and reduces traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and demand for inner-city parking.
The new Nelson Bus Hub improves public transport by providing a single central-city bus interchange for the InterCity and tourist buses to our region’s national parks as well as councils’ eBus service. Safety is a priority at the new bus hub. We have installed multiple security cameras and will be taking a firm approach to any bad behaviour or vandalism.
This new hub follows our eBus service launch in 2023 that added more destinations, greater frequency and a 100% EV bus fleet – a NZ first. The eBus service has doubled patronage to over 900,000 journeys a year. The next improvement is contactless payment options as part of the roll-out of the national ticketing system Motu Move.
The shift in location frees up the old depot site for use by the Bridge to Better project’s contractors. This saves costs and reduces disruption to adjacent businesses. The site is then intended for sale for a major inner-city development that will partially offset the costs of the new bus hub.
The move to Millers Acre is also part of our strategy to make the central city pedestrian and shopping-friendly with heavy traffic encouraged to use the ring roads. Additional central city bus stops are being added.
This is the latest stage of redeveloping Millers Acre. We first acquired the adjacent 41 Halifax St property to replace carparks displaced by the bus hub. We are expanding the outside dining for River Kitchen. We are also refurbishing the northern building as an arts hub, for completion mid-2026. This will complement the existing DOC information centre.
We are creating a convenient central-city transport and visitor hub that highlights Nelson’s love of nature and the arts.
