An extra weekly bus service in the New Year will give Pātea and Waverley people more options for getting to and from Hāwera and the rest of Taranaki.
The Waverley-Pātea-Hāwera Southlink service is operated by Weir Brothers.
The current Southlink return service linking Waverley and Pātea with Hāwera on Thursdays will be supplemented with an additional service on Tuesdays. This new service will be timed to allow passengers to transfer to or from Connector services linking Hāwera with New Plymouth via Eltham, Stratford and Inglewood.
“We’re pleased to offer this additional service to communities south of Hāwera,” says Chris Clarke, Transport Services Manager for Taranaki Regional Council, whose contractors operate Southlink buses.
“It means more choice for those wanting to use public transport to get up to Hāwera or beyond for appointments or to see family and friends.”
The Thursday service will also be tweaked to allow passengers more time in Hāwera, but this service remains within the 9am-3pm window that allows SuperGold Card holders to travel for free.
The good news doesn’t end there – the New Year also brings a new flat-fare structure with all passengers to pay $3 a trip, with $2 child and concession fares.
“We’ll be trialling this for six months – it’s simpler for all concerned,” says Chris.
A similar flat fare of $2 applies on the Southlink’s revamped Opunake-Hāwera service that launched this month.
The Pātea-Waverley service is operated by Weir Brothers and the new timetable takes effect on 8 January 2019. For details of the new timetable, go to www.trc.govt.nz/Southlink2019.