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JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Environment Canterbury’s new tube bus design, unveiled in September.
Christchurch bus riders will see schedule changes, different buses and EVs on some routes starting later this month when new operator contracts begin.
In February, Red Bus, owned by the Christchurch City Council, lost in a significant upgrade to Greater Christchurch bus contracts, resulting in a switch to more electric and low-emission buses.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) awarded the Go Bus contracts for the three urban bus units, made up of 13 routes, including the orbiter, orange and blue lines, which were tendered last year, increasing its participation in the urban network to 80 percent.
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Red Bus had tendered for all units and also lost school bus services, which went to Ritchies Transport.
Last week it was announced that Red Bus had been sold to Ritchies Transport, with the loss of 63 jobs.
ECan said the new contracts will take effect from November 29, bringing with it emissions reductions through the introduction of 25 new electric vehicles and 39 new low-emission buses.
Many services will also switch to a different operator, and an ECan spokesperson said passengers should be aware that a different bus can be used on their route.
“If you are used to seeing a Red Bus brand vehicle on your route, now it can be a Go Bus brand vehicle.
“Your bus may also have the new teal livery as it continues down the network.”
CHRIS SKELTON / THINGS
The new route 44 will no longer travel between Bus Interchange and Ara.
Public transportation senior manager Stewart Gibbon said the schedules for some services will also change on Nov. 29, the second of three stages of schedule changes.
The frequency of the purple line, which runs between Christchurch Airport and Sumner, will increase to every 10 minutes, merging routes 44 and 45 with a new route 44 Shirley – Westmorland, and updating the Diamond Harbor ferry schedule, which adds a little more time to each trip.
“Our travel planning tool allows you to plan ahead. You can plan your trip for November 29 onwards to see if the schedule changes affect your regular trip. “
