Library bus back on the road

Library books are back on the menu this Christmas with the freshly-fixed Tauranga mobile library bus gracing the city's streets once again.

The mobile library resumed normal service in Cherrywood and Arataki today, offering about 3000 books to the community following a long layoff.


Assistant mobile librarians Geoff Bissmire and Martine Hawkins back on the road with the Tauranga Mobile Library. Photo: Luke Balvert.

The library bus was put out of action on November 10 after a car slammed into it on a bend near the Faith Bible College in Welcome Bay.

The driver of the red Holden Astra appeared to lose control on a bend before hitting the front of the library bus, killing 19-year-old passenger Karanbir Singh.

Assistant mobile librarian Geoff Bissmire, speaking to SunLive in Arataki, says it's fantastic to have the bus back operational and it is already proving popular in the two suburbs.

'We had over 50 people at Cherrywood this morning, so people are just loving that it's back on the road,” says Geoff.

For a two week period after the crash a library car was used to pick up books but since then there has been no mobile service.

Tauranga City Library manager Jill Best says it is a great Christmas present for the city to have the service fully functional again.

'It will be wonderful to have it back,” she says. 'The customers have been asking when it will be back and will be delighted to have it back today.

Jill says damage sustained in the crash wasn't significant, with the bus needing a new windscreen and front right panel, coupled with some internal damage and replacing 'deteriorated” storage batteries.

The bus has also been given a spring clean before books were placed carefully back on the shelves. Yesterday a Welcome Bay Kaumatua blessed the bus ahead of it resuming normal service.

Jill says the mobile library remains scheduled to come off the road between January 19-24 for re-painting - the first time in its 15 year existence.

'It will be a different design and different colour, but we haven't unveiled that yet,” she adds.

'It will look quite different and beautifully reflect that's it a Tauranga bus.”

The Mobile Library bus has been part of the city libraries service since it was purchased in 1999, replacing an earlier model.

Since then the mobile library's main problems have been political, but moves to remove it on budgetary grounds have been overturned by public support for the service.

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