17 April 2026
File Ref: OIAPR-1274023063-49276
Miss M Quicken
By email:
[FYI request #34334 email]; and
[email address]
Tēnā koe Miss M Quicken
Request for information 2026-142
I refer to your request for information dated 1 April 2026, which was received by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (Greater Wellington) on 1 April 2026. You have requested the
following:
“
During March 2025, Greater Wellington consulted on a draft version of the Regional Public
Transport Plan. As part of that consultation, council heard from you on a variety of ideas, issues,
and topics relating to Wellington’s public transport network.
Please release all the submissions the council received so we can provide our own analysis
from the submissions.”
And
“
This was the transport committee workshop re:
To update Councillors on our service design approach to reduce service costs by $5 million
during the 2025/26 financial\period
Please provide the:
A) Minutes from 1 Sep 2025 workshop and;
B) The video / audio recording of the 1 Sep 2025 workshop and;
C) Transcript from the workshop and;
D) Questions received from the workshop participants
Wellington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wellington
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]
6142
E) The list of participants in the workshop”
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
Your request has been assessed under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings
Act 1987 (the Act).
We have split and labelled these requests into two parts.
Part 1
All submissions to the Regional Public Transport Plan 2025 Hearing (Transport Committee)
have now been uploaded to the website. You can find these here:
www.gw.govt.nz/your-
region/events-and-meetings/regional-public-transport-plan-2025-hearing-transport-
committee/
Part 2
We note that Greater Wellington did not have a workshop on 1 September 2025, so we have
interpreted your request to be for the Council workshop on 11 September 2025, which included
the Bus Service Review Update.
Parts A-C
Greater Wellington does not provide either secretariat services for or livestream workshops, so
we do not have any copies of minutes, recordings or a transcript.
We are therefore refusing this part of your request under section 17(e) of the Act on the basis
that the document alleged to contain the information does not exist.
When refusing a request under this section of the Act we are required to consider consulting
you first. In this instance, we considered that consulting you would not change our decision.
D) Questions received from the workshop participants
The presenting officers have recorded a file note from Item 3 of the workshop which is detailed
in the table below. These are simply notes and not a transcript of the Item.
For reference, the initials relate to the Councillors (Quentin Duthie, Daran Ponter, Adrienne
Staples, Ros Connelly, and Yadana Saw) Nigel relates to Nigel Corry (CE) and Sam relates to
Samantha Gain (Metlink Group Manager).
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Item 3 –
QD: We’re already a quarter through the year, is it feasible For TE – Come
Bus
this year?
back to Council by
Service
the end of 2025
Review
Answer: Coming to it – no work since Nov 24 to April 25 with
further
Update
when I began
information
on
proposed review
10.30am
DP: what does catchment thresholds mean?
principles and
scheduled
start time,
Answer: don’t leave areas without PT access
11:27am
AS: clarify a catchment less than or greater than
actual
2,700? That would put all Wairarapa areas out of scope?
Presenting Answer: Less than, which is why it is important to be
officers:
subjective, we have a lot of communities in this area
Tamsin
Evans
- AS: If I am thinking about Wairarapa, communities without
Senior
cars, need access to health care, would leave people
Manager
stranded.
Network &
Customer, Answer: Community priority
Metlink
QD: Troubling things about this, first is financial, we set
$5m goal this financial year, if we don’t meet this, how do
we deal with this?
NIGEL: We are working through this
SAM: We will move things around to get a balanced
budget, in progress at the moment
RC: Makes me sad. Signs on bus stops ‘buses no longer
stop here’ from 2020, we’ll see more of those. Minimum
usage, under 4?
Answer: Average
RC: R#110 is long, could cut parts, but not all?
CKB: complaints about empty buses, less than 4 needs to
be address. Keneperu says 20min frequency current,
could do 30 min frequency with a slightly longer travel
time. We can change those interpeak services and cut
Page 3 of 6
them down. Reluctance to cut down the bus frequency
over the last 6 years. Test bus routes for 6 months to build
patronage, gives ability to cut the service and redeploy in a
more open manner. Change fares, we reduced the off-
peak discount, we should have a significant saving for off-
peak travel. Build agility into the principles, give ability to
test changes.
Answer: frequency, nothing is off the table, we are looking
at options. 15min- 20 mins has been suggested. It is
difficult to have a blanket rule on that.
CKB: Balanced budget, delighted.
Answer: build patronage and test – R#59. Talking to
operator about their observations, loading, demand, don’t
need these stops, etc. Fares will come under fares review
next year.
YS: Not a fun presentation to swallow. How do we
socialise this message? Is there a process?
RC: Radical thought, this is focussed on buses – what
about trains? Do we cancel all off-peak trains and use the
buses, and focus on the works required.
SAM: Focus is on the $5m savings decision. However, we
are looking at potential options in line with what you’ve
suggested.
YS: standing on buses increases PVR? How does reducing
services impact PVR for new contracts?
Answer: Procurement process gives opportunity for deep
dive
DP: Will this process be able to address concerns of
communities who believe they are underserved?
Answer: Yes, if there is funding available
Page 4 of 6
QD: Rubber is going to hit the road when we see the
specifics. We made a decision based on ‘no real impact’
of frequency changes
Answer: Yes
QD: Hutt review next year, will this encompass?
A: Melling changes, at request of the operator looking at
run time review. Also looking at obvious overlaps or
opportunity.
QD: RPTP, Wainui has specific actions. We can’t defer
that?
Answer: Yes, we have specific promises to specific areas.
PG: Do you have a timeline for where Council will have a
workshop to decide these?
Answer: Want to have this before Christmas, before
Summer.
PG: Induction needs a reality check. Heads up, we want
genuine options where we can influence the outcome.
QD: How
much
of
this
is
governance
vs
operational? Public consultation?
RC: Staff can’t deliver the savings within the direction that
they were given. I am more interested in the principles,
because we don’t want a fight between Kapiti and the Hutt.
PG: New Council has the ability to change the target –
discussion with new Council.
Answer: Part of why we need a robust approach, so we can
scale.
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E) The list of participants in the workshop
Councillors present:
Cr Bassett, Cr Connelly, Cr Duthie, Cr Kirk-Burnnand, Cr Laban, Cr Nash, Cr Saw, Cr
Ponter, Cr Staples
KiwiRail officers present:
Shaun Bullard - KiwiRail Performance Manager
Manjot Singh- KiwiRail Wellington Metro Infrastructure Manager
Alex McIver- KiwiRail Wellington Metro Projects Manager
David Gordon - KiwiRail Chief Metro and Capital Programme Officer
Greater Wellington Officers present:
Tim Shackleton, Dave Hadley, Steven Zinsli, Dave Insull, Tamsin Evans, Richard
Sheild, Sam O’Brien, Josie Knight-Maclean, Chloe Nannestad, Iain Dawe.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to
request an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Act.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information
requests where appropriate. Our response to your request will be published shortly on Greater
Wellington’s website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Luke Troy
Kaiwhakahaere Matua Rautaki | Group Manager Strategy
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