The Otago Regional Council just opened submissions from the public their Draft Otago Regional Public Transport Plan Summary 2025–2035. Feedback closes 2 May 2025.
I will be commenting on bikes on busses as well as the all important lack of any improvement in the Dunedin City to Dunedin Airport public transport link. Any other city in NZ - Auckland, Wellington, Chch., Queenstown - its a piece of cake to get to/from airport by bus and I have done so many times. Why does it take 2 hours to get a shuttle from Dunedin Airport to home and cost about $30. Dunedin is really hurting itself by not having better public transport to/from the airport. Not to mention a bike path. Victoria BC has a lovely bike path, and bike lockers and even bike tools and pumps etc so you can get to and from the airport with your bike and take your bike on your bike vacation to somewhere warm. Dunedin has no safe biking route thru the taieri (from the Wingatui Tunnel) to the Airport. Wellington has the nice Rongatai bike tunnel to the airport (actually under the runway) But I digress the bike to airport is another topic…
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Kia ora Rob, thanks for the reminder!
I’m here for a kōrero about biking to the planestation, and as you say this might need to go somewhere else / in it’s own thread… Would the planned trail from Mosgiel< >Outram< >Waihola go via Momona?
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Kia ora Rob,
Definitely a good reminder for everyone to submit to the RPTP - I’ll be on the hearings panel this year! Definitely room for more active transport integration into the plan.
Regarding buses to the airport, that was all approved as a trial in the Long Term Plan and had to be canned last year after central government denied co-funding. The political support for funding 100% out of rates isn’t there because the fear is if we do that then govt will pull out of other co-funding, so the options are to explore community trust shuttle models, or wait for a new government unfortunately. Definitely share your thoughts on it in a submission though.
Regarding biking to the airport, I heard from Rachel Elder that the trails trusts plans did included routes to the airport, and they working on making sure that final Waihola - Dunedin section is shovel ready for when funding eventually, hopefully comes. They need all the help they can get asking for that funding to be reinstated in the DCC’s 9-year-plan though.
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