Hawke's Bay Public Transport Network Review

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) wants to reduce transport emissions and make it easier to get around without a car. To these ends, MRCagney was  asked by HBRC to review the region’s public transport network in late 2021. Our remit was clear: build a blank-slate refresh of the network to make public transport a logical part of Hawke’s Bay residents’ daily lives.

Our scope included three key pieces of work: reviewing the existing network’s operations and performance, designing a new network that can be implemented in stages by 2030, and helping HBRC to develop a new Regional Public Transport Plan.

MRCagney’s data science team, public transport planners, and policy experts contributed to the project. We used these skills to do a deep analysis of the current public transport network in the Hawke’s Bay, and benchmark it against similar regions. 

Throughout the process, we collaborated with the HBRC transport team and the Regional Transport Committee. An interactive workshop tested the network design with elected members helped to build excitement for it within the council.

This project was an exciting opportunity to re-imagine the entire public transport system in Hawke’s Bay. By combining best-practice public transport principles with detailed data analytics and interactive local engagement, we designed a network that offers triple the number of service kilometres per year for just over double the cost of the current system. The new network provides much more frequent and direct services to meet the needs of more people as a viable alternative to driving throughout the day. This is truly a step change for public transport in Hawke’s Bay.