A toilet seat spotted at a Girven Road bus stop is part of one Arataki man's protest against Tauranga City Council.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he wants to raise awareness about what he describes as incompetence within council.
'The problem is at Bayfair, council knew in plenty of time they were closing the bus stop at the front of the building to allow for construction work.
'They mucked around and got delayed putting a stop at the back, with the result that busses now have to pick up passengers from Girven Rd and Grenada St.
'I lodged a complaint about the situation at Grenada in that many of the people using those busses are elderly.
'You have to walk from Bayfair around to Grenada, but in the winter time in the cold and rain it's not so good.
'It means if they get held up crossing Girven Rd to get to the Grenada St stop and they miss their bus they have to wait half an hour in this weather. It's elder abuse.
'I've suggested they grab a shipping container, open it out and sit it there to give a temporary shelter.”
He says the other stop at Girven Rd, particularly the seat is in a shocking condition.
'I brought an old toilet seat to the stop and put it there. A young man who was there at the time promptly whipped out his phone to take a photo, the bus drivers think it's hilarious and I've had a lot of comments about it.
'I want the council to do something – if people have to sit there then put a bit of plywood on it.
'I understand it's probably got to go through processes at council but the problem with that is they'll only get it right by the end of winter – in the meantime old people are suffering and I don't think that's on.”
He says council has suggested installing an app on some of the elderly people's phones so they can live track the busses.
'But a lot of them don't have phones or can't use them.
'I'm 85 years old and I'm fit and well and I can use the car – but a lot of people using those busses aren't.”
SunLive has contacted Tauranga Ciyt Council for comment and will update this story when more information becomes available.
4 comments
Basics
Posted on 27-06-2018 11:39 | By Craven Moorehead
Typical TCC. Can't keep a bus shelter in reasonable nick but spend millions on fancy offices and libraries. And want to spend more on a museum until people say enough is enough. They should be ashamed.
Blame Bayfair Owners
Posted on 27-06-2018 12:06 | By Road Ranger
it must be the only shopping centre in the world that doesn't want buses!! Everywhere else shopping centres go out-of-their-way to accommodate public transport. If they don't want buses they obviously don't want customers!! Councils everywhere are trying to get cars off the roads and people into public transport - come on Bayfair get with it.
There's an important point here...
Posted on 27-06-2018 13:06 | By morepork
... it is all to easy to assume that everyone has (and uses) a cell phone and we can fix everything just by downloading the right app. Technology IS important, but it should never be allowed to override common sense. Fix the bus stop. No excuses...
This IS An Outrage
Posted on 27-06-2018 18:24 | By Mommatum
You have got to love...not how an overpaid group of people with cars have unilaterally decided to make access to Bayfair as inconvenient (and in some cases dangerous) for those of us without cars who want or in some cases need to visit Bayfair. With a sheltered bus stop at the door Bayfair has always been accessible for older people, parents with prams and people with disabilities. Now however we will be forced to cross busy roads in all weathers because our needs weren’t taken into account when the well paid car people at the Regional Council decided to close our bus stop. To add insult to injury we aren’t even offered decent seating or shelter and the toilet seat sums it up. Nobody asked us the people dependent on buses and that is an outrage.
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