Suburban bus services in Hawke’s Bay, along with the MyWay on demand service in Hastings, will resume service from tomorrow, Wednesday 1 March.
In a statement, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council said large parts of regional roading infrastructure had been affected by cyclone Gabrielle.
“The majority of our inter-city connector routes have been badly damaged or are completely impassable,” the Council said.
One lane of State Highway 51 remains open to emergency services and essential travel with access conditions and traffic management in place making reliable public transport between Napier and Hastings challenging on this route.
“The Hawke’s Bay expressway is now the only reliable link between the cities, and it is experiencing significant congestion throughout the day, particularly at peak times, making scheduling a bus service impracticable,” the Council said.
“Roading infrastructure and ongoing traffic congestion on both routes does not currently allow for a Hastings-Napier service to operate reliably. We will continue to monitor the situation and work to find a solution as soon as we can.”
The following routes will resume under a normal timetable from Wednesday 1 March:
Route 13 – Napier, Tamatea, Taradale
Route 14 – Napier, Maraenui, Onekawa
Route 15 – Napier, Ahuriri, Westshore (with the exception of Bayview until further notice)
Route 20 – Hastings, Flaxmere
Route 21 – Hastings, Havelock North
The Route 15 service will not run out to Bayview due to ongoing access challenges on that route, the Council said.
Intercity routes 10, 11, 12 between Napier and Hastings are not operating until further notice.
“We understand that the absence of an inter-city bus service will be frustrating for the community and will impact the ability to get to school, work, and appointments,” the Council said.
“During this trying time, we ask for patience while we continually assess the situation and look for suitable and reliable inter-city routes.
“Our call centre is experiencing high volumes of calls and there may be delays getting through to our team for over-the-phone MyWay bookings. We recommend using the app where possible.”
