An eBus heading to Atawhai from the Nelson City Interchange. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
A fleet of bright blue electric buses have hit the road in Nelson and Tasman - the launch of a new service designed to improve residents' access to public transport.
The eBus service includes a fleet of 17 electric buses, 100 new stops and three additional routes - including a daily express service to Motueka.
It is a major overhaul of public transport in the region that will also see a dedicated bus travel between Nelson and the airport for the first time.
A Bee Card for use on the new eBus service in Nelson and Tasman. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
At the Nelson City Centre interchange on Tuesday, Bernie Habbershaw was waiting to to catch the new route three bus to her home in Atawhai.
A daily bus user, she had been looking forward to the new service.
"It's really exciting having weekend buses, it's like gold and the buses are going to be quiet, they are not going to be noisy.
"The only thing we are going to have to do is get the bus drivers to know our names again."
Joanna Santa Barbara was up early to catch the first bus out of Motueka, just before 7am.
"It was delightful, it was actually like being at a party because lots of people knew each other and we were kind of moving around the bus having lovely conversations."
She said people of all ages had risen early to catch the first bus into Nelson.
"It wasn't quite full but near to, there was schoolchildren, and there were students going to the technical college and others who were general commuters as well as those of us who really want to see it happen and wanted to celebrate the occasion."
Nelson Tasman Climate Forum co-chair Joanna Santa Barbara took the first bus out of Motueka just before 7am. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
As the co-chairperson of the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum, Santa Barbara said the new service reflected the change the organisation wanted to see in the region.
"We've got a long way to go, we definitely need to get out of our cars and onto buses, onto our bikes, into our walking shoes and this means changing life habits, which is a little hard for many people but we want to kind of cheer this change on."
Tasman Mayor Tim King said the new service was a gamechanger for those in the district's smaller rural communities.
"Being able to access a regular efficient service that's really cost competitive with other forms of transport means that there's just another great option for people to travel around our region."
Associate Transport Minister Damien O'Connor said its success would come down to how well the service was used.
"The opportunity to support a bus service that's 80 percent electric will be a test of the community, it will be more convenient for people to hop on and off, more frequent which means that the opportunities are here and uptake will be the big challenge."
O'Connor said urban planning and intensification was needed to support viable public transport.
"If we're all spread out all over the place, it's really hard for people to get connected to a public transport system. It's efficient, when it's convenient and if it's not convenient people will take to their cars.
"I think we all see the logic of cutting down on the cost of transport... but for a country like ours, that has a relatively small population over a large area, we have to really focus on concentration and having public transport systems that work effectively."
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith and Nelson MP Rachel Boyack onboard a new eBus. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said she had been advocating for a better public transport system in the region for nearly 15 years.
"When I moved to Nelson, there was literally one bus that went between Nelson and Richmond maybe every couple of hours. I don't think you could use a card of any kind, you had to pay cash and it was a bit old and smelly and dirty and not what I was used to having lived in bigger cities.
"What I love about these buses is that they're smooth, they're clean, they are quiet and they are really nice to ride on."
Boyack said the new service would not have been possible without central government support.
"A region like Nelson does have challenges around congestion and one of the things people have said to me is they want to be able to use alternative forms of transport but haven't been able to do that. So by offering a bus service of this kind of alongside the investment we're making in walking and cycling, it means that it's easier for people to take alternative forms of transport and that will help us to ease the congestion."
Bus travel remains free for under 13s and half price for those under the age of 25.