Several weeks of overcrowded buses has Welcome Bay local Brie Cook asking: 'how difficult is it to get a bigger bus?”

The demand on the Schoolhopper service is causing some 'first-term teething issues” for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council after receiving reports of overloaded buses and delays on some routes.

Overcrowding and delays on routes continues to be an issue for the the Bay of Plenty Regional Council which operate the Schoolhoper and Go Bus services. Photo: File

Of the 51 Go Bus routes, at least three – Welcome Bay, Ohauiti and Hairini – have faced issues since the start of the school year. Something Regional Council staff are investigating.

Brie's lived in Welcome Bay all her life but says she has never ridden a bus so packed with people like the one she rode on Thursday morning last week.

'I was travelling on Route 40 and it was very over crowded, maybe not to the point of illegality, but to the point of utter inconvenience for all passengers on board,” the 16-year-old says.

'The bus had not completed even half of its route before the isle was full of people. I had to stand for around half an hour, so long that my arm was throbbing from holding the above-head handle.”

She appreciates some may think she's ‘nit-picking', but Brie says she has made numerous complaints to the Regional Council about the overcrowded buses, but has received no response.

'Seriously how difficult is it to get a bigger bus?” Brie asks.

Transport Policy manager Garry Maloney reaffirms that Regional Council staff are looking at the patronage levels on Route 40 and what's causing customer concerns about overcrowded buses.

Council staff have also asked the operator if they have access to additional vehicles which could be put in to service and a price to do so. But putting an effective and efficient solution in place to address the issues will take a little bit of time.

'We have asked the operator to provide us with a price for putting an additional vehicle into service, but that cost is not currently budgeted for,” explains Garry.

'For example, the cost to put an extra bus into the Schoolhopper service is about $50,000 to $60,000 per annum. To cover the cost of that bus from student fares, means it would need to carry about 38,000 extra passengers a year, or 190 per day.”

The recent demand on the school service has also affected the timeliness in which council staff been able to respond to the issue, with Garry explaining they only have access to 10 days of Schoolhopper patronage data.

Staff are also examining the timings of several school bus routes to ensure they're servicing schools appropriately, and so students aren't choosing to use Route 40 over the school service.

But Garry says most buses are designed to take a set amount of standing passengers – and Route 40 is no different.

'The ability to carry standing passengers means more people can use public transport, as the associated costs of putting on additional or larger buses can outweigh the benefits of all passengers having seats.

'The Council's Public Transport Sub-Committee will consider this issue and options to resolve it when it meets late next month.”

Garry says if you believe the number of standing passengers is above the amount specified on the registration certificate – found at the front of the bus – you should contact council or police as it's a 'breach of the operating certificate”.