Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has confirmed an innovative trial of a new public transport service will hit Hastings’ streets on 7 June to make getting around the community easier and more sustainable.
The Council is delivering the new ‘MyWay’ public transport service with ease of use, accessibility and customer experience as its main focus.
Regional Councillor and Regional Transport Committee Chair, Martin Williams said it was very exciting to finally be able bring the service to the Hastings community.
“This is a game changer for the delivery of public transport, where people make their own timetable for when they want to catch the bus, and where they want it to go. If the trial is successful and people ‘get on board’ with MyWay, we will ultimately be able to provide a more user friendly and accessible service for a wider range of people over the longer term and region,” said Councillor Williams.
The trial will start in June in Hastings and be rolled out in Napier next year.
The MyWay service will replace routes 16A, 16B and 17 in urban Hastings, and operate Monday to Friday, 6am to 6pm. MyWay will use Ford Transit and Mercedes Sprinter vehicles to transport passengers. Customers can request a vehicle through the MyWay app, or by calling the Regional Council.
Councillor Williams says getting more people out of cars in Hawke’s Bay through ‘mode shift’ was a priority for Council.
“We want more people using our buses, riding their bikes, or walking, particularly to make shorter every day trips around town. MyWay is our first step on the journey to change the way we think about and use public transport in Hawke’s Bay,” he said.
Regional Council Group Manager Policy & Regulation, Katrina Brunton says the new service improves the current offering of public transport by giving Hastings residents better connection to the people, places, and activities they love.
“We’ve worked hard to meet the needs of our local community and provide flexibility and connection across Hastings.”
“MyWay uses technology to match customers travelling in the same direction and works out a flexible route to pick you up and drop you off close to your destination. Using the app you can track the vehicle and get updates on when you’ll get to your destination.”
“The fare for a trip to go anywhere in Hastings under the trial is $2. We’ve set up the system so you should not have to wait more than 25 minutes from booking your trip, and you will be picked up and dropped off within 200m of your travel source and destination.
“Ahead of the service launching on June 7, we’re asking for people from across the community to trial the service for two weeks to iron out any issues and give us time to make changes before it opens to the wider public. This means you may see the buses driving round Hastings from 23 May.”
To sign up to trial the service for free and get a $25 Bee Card top up, or for more information on the service head to mywayhb.nz
