Paula Thompson BOP Regional Councillor www.envbop.govt.nz

The sight of the big yellow Hopper Buses is now part of Tauranga's daily landscape and, despite what some may think, patronage is growing. But like most things in local government behind what seems a relatively straightforward service is a complex public policy and legislative framework – the latter the subject of recent change with the introduction of a new Public Transport Operating Model. This will be enacted during the next few months and is intended to improve the efficiency of public transport.

A very simple analysis of the core issue for public transport would be that the government wants to ensure government investment in public transport is matched by growing patronage trends. That goes to the very heart of public transport provision which is the issue of funding.

At present the funding system splits costs between Regional Councils, NZTA funding and fare box recovery. On the face of it that split seems relatively simple but there are issues. For example, in places such as Auckland and Wellington the opportunity to recover more from the users is far greater than, say, in a region like the Bay of Plenty. That is why our fare box recovery is so much lower than Auckland and Wellington although targets are for a region wide fare box recovery of 35-40 per cent by 2018.

Although Tauranga's patronage is climbing, other parts of the region aren't and therefore the funding issue becomes more difficult. That is why the Regional Council has a targeted rates system for the Councils share of costs so we can try and allocate the costs to the various sub regions.

There are many complex issues associated with the management of a public transport system –none the least of which is equitable funding. However one thing is for sure and that is that we need a reliable and sustainable public transport system and the more it is used the better chance we have of getting the funding issues sorted.