Where is the best place for a bus to stop outside a medical centre? Directly outside its entrance would be ideal for Mount Maunganui resident Chris Jaeger, but this isn't the reality.

The 76-year-old lives in the Bayfair area and needs to bus to routine medical appointments at Grace Hospital on Cheyne Rd, Pyes Pa.

Journeying from Bayfair, Chris takes a bus to Tauranga CBD's Durham St bus stop, before catching the number one bus to get to Grace Hospital.

Yet where there once was a bus stop on Cheyne Rd by the hospital's entrance – this is no longer the case.

'There used to be a bus stop there, a covered bus stop, but it's gone,” says Chris.

Making his way to Grace Hospital from the current bus stop on Condor Drive, Chris has to walk 'up a hill and then about 800m along to where the actual hospital entranceway is, where everyone comes in their cars”.

With a neuropathy disorder leaving him with no feeling in the back of his legs, Chris says: 'Climbing that hill is a real hassle to me. It takes 10 minutes when it would probably take a normal person about three”.

Stops and routes

Earlier in April, Bay of Plenty Regional Council announced their proposed bus network refresh, which will include a new route one.

Reaching out to BOPRC, The Sun asked when and why the immediate bus stop by Grace Hospital's entrance was removed.

'It has been a number of years since a bus stopped directly outside Grace Hospital, the closest existing services are Route 1 and 51 and under the current proposal they are replaced by new Route 23. We want to hear from our customers about the plan – what works for them, and what doesn't,” says BOPRC transport planning manager Oliver Haycock.

The answer to the why seems unclear.

However, The Sun questioned whether the update to the bus network will include a bus stop directly outside Grace Hospital.

'While regional council is not responsible for the placement or provision of bus stops and shelters, any comments related to infrastructure will be passed onto Tauranga City Council for consideration.”

In response, The Sun contacted TCC to get answers on whether the old bus stop will be reinstated. TCC transportation project manager Kurt Graham.

'The bus stop shelter near Grace Hospital is still in place, however the bus route no longer goes by the stop, and the BOPRC network refresh is not proposing to change this,” says Kurt.

'Questions regarding when and why the route changed, and the network refresh should be directed to Bay of Plenty Regional Council.”.

Elderly's experience

Amidst boomeranging between councils, Chris shared his thoughts on these responses: 'It's a hospital for goodness sake. Why won't they do something? That's actually telling people that if you haven't got a car or anything like that, tough, you've got to get a taxi.”

Chris goes to Grace Hospital at least eight times a year but depending on his health he could require fortnightly visits for multiple weeks too. 'I'm very disappointed and they're not helping the elderly people in Tauranga at all.

'There's a lot of people that go to Grace Hospital for various reasons… and you know to get a taxi from there back home, if it's raining, and it's wet, that's $55 – and for the elderly, especially for those on a sickness benefit, like it's not a very good thing.”

'I've been soaked three or four times, having to walk… there are big trees in the street where it goes [to the bus stop] but I mean that doesn't help you when it's really raining.”

Oliver says the BOPRC transport team draws on data collected through the bus ticket machines to understand the potential impact on customers.

'Over 20,000 journeys are made per month with a Supergold or Senior concession, of which over 99 per cent will still have access to their closest bus stop following our proposed changes.

'Key locations accessed by our Supergold and Senior customers, such as Greerton, Tauranga Crossing, Bethlehem and Brookfield will receive an enhanced level of service from our proposed changes,” says Oliver.

'Following public consultation, the feedback will be analysed and incorporated into the proposal. 'Regional Council plan to share the updated network design in June 2023 and then begin planning for implementation.”