NZ Bus hopes more frequent, comfy buses with free internet connections will persuade travellers to ditch private cars and taxis and take the Airport Flyer to and from Wellington Airport.
The company has splashed out $4 million on nine air-conditioned Airport Flyer buses, built by Kiwi Bus Builders in Tauranga, that from today ply the routes to and from the Hutt Valley and the airport every 15 minutes.
Plush leather seats and extra luggage and leg room will come at the price of higher fares. The cost of a single ticket between Lambton Quay and the airport will rise from $6.50 to $8.
Managing director Bruce Emson said the fare was still significantly less than the cost of a taxi, and the buses were less harmful to the environment. “Our investment in the Airport Flyer is an expression of our desire to make bus transport as good as it can be.” The company, a subsidiary of NZX-listed Infratil, runs most of Wellington’s bus services.
Mr Emson believed the buses were the first in New Zealand to be kitted out with free WiFi, which will let passengers with iPods, laptop computers and some mobile phones connect to the internet.
He expected business people would use the service to work, reply to emails and catch up on news. Tourists might use it to look for things to do to entertain themselves while in Wellington.
Wellington Airport has provided free WiFi at the airport since 2006.
Taxi company Green Cabs’ chief executive Callum Brown said the Airport Flyer competed more with the airport shuttle, but taxi companies relied heavily on the airport run and those that did not have a strong corporate or government customer base might be hit. “We will watch with interest.”
Green Cabs supported people taking public transport. “A lot of people say there are too many taxis on the road, and I think that is just the fact there are a lot of taxi companies that are running inefficiently with the amount of work that they do have, and a lot of those taxi companies do operate from the airport.”
The Airport Flyer carried 600,000 passengers last year. Wellington Airport says there are 7 million visits to the airport, annually.
Greater Wellington Regional Council has budgeted $10m for a real-time passenger information system that will track Wellington buses by satellite and display their expected departure times on electronic displays that will be fitted to some bus stops, and on the internet. Project leader David Lewry said the council was on track to pilot the system in October and make it available to the public in March.
June 23, 2009 at 1:45 am
how long before these flyers have their own bus lane along cobham driver I wonder?