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A new half-hourly bus service in and around Warkworth is on target to start by July, according to Auckland Transport (AT).
Senior service network planner Dave Hilson told a Rodney Local Board workshop last month that the trial service would run every 30 minutes from 6am to 7.30pm, seven days a week, over the next two years.
“It’s progressing well with planning, we’re drawing up draft timetables with Ritchies, and the location of bus stops is being planned,” he said.
The 999 Warkworth Loop service will run one way around town in a clockwise direction, with each circuit taking 20 to 25 minutes. The fare will be the same as that for all standard AT single zone journeys, currently $2.60 for adults, with concessions for children, students and seniors.
There will be seven new stops, in addition to the existing bus stops in Baxter Street, Whitaker Road and at the Community Transport Hub.
Although precise locations have yet to be decided, the new stops are likely to be in Percy Street, Lilburn Street, Pulham Road, Woodcocks Road, Mansel Drive, Falls Road and Hudson Road.
Hilson said AT’s suggested bus stop locations would be finalised and go out for local board and public consultation later this month.
“They will be relatively basic bus stops at this stage – just on the side of the road with no shelters, but if the service becomes permanent, we’d start to look towards shelters,” he said.
The $821,000 trial loop service is being funded by Rodney Local Board’s transport targeted rate but, if it proves successful, will be taken over by AT.
Board members made several suggestions about the best place for new bus stops, including having a Percy Street stop at the top of the steep hill near the medical centres, taking the Pulham Road stop further east, and making sure the Hudson Road stop was convenient for Pak’nSave.
