Reduced bus timetable being reinstated

GoBus, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s bus operator has advised the Council that they are suffering a serious shortage of drivers and ongoing illness. Because of that, 20 Hawke’s Bay bus trips daily are being temporarily suspended.

The reduced bus timetable was introduced on Monday 21 November, with the intention it would be in place until further notice to allow the situation to improve.

Regional Council General Manager Policy & Regulation Katrina Brunton says we will only be able to move back to a full timetable when operator, GoBus, have enough drivers, and can sustain a full timetable.

“The national bus driver shortage is hitting hard and is compounded by ongoing seasonal illness/COVID-19. Our Operator is advising that they are currently not able to recruit enough drivers to run a full service.

"They are working to recruit new bus drivers but this and training will take some time. We are sorry for the disruption and are working closely with GoBus to ensure the full service is returned as soon as possible.”

We will be actively monitoring the situation to see if circumstances change. Please check in regularly via the goBay website and Facebook page to find out about service updates.”

The reduced schedule has been designed with GoBus to ensure that services are provided at key times as often as possible in order to provide reliability of the services that are still operating, so people can plan their journeys.

Out of the 141 daily services across Hawke’s Bay, 121 are still being delivered.

The 20 services not operating have been removed from the goBay website to avoid confusion. Fliers with a list of cancelled services are also available from drivers.

Media contact:

Arlene Crispin

Communications Advisor

027 241 3345

22 December 2022

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