Learn more
What is the Regional Services Review?
Submissions on the Regional Services Review closed on 11 September 2023. However, you are still able to share any feedback by emailing your thoughts to transport@horizons.govt.nz.
The Horizons Region is home to people living in many diverse communities - cities, villages and everything in between. People make connections between those communities to work, access key services such as healthcare and education, and spend time with each other.
How we will move across the region is changing. A new highway connecting Manawatū and Tararua is under construction, while the Capital Connection rail service upgrades will make it easier than ever to travel between Palmerston North and Wellington. These and other transport projects give us the opportunity to improve how we connect our towns, cities, districts and neighbouring regions through public transport.
The Regional Services Review is how you can let Horizons Regional Council know what new public transport options you want to make it easier to travel across and beyond the region. Sharing your thoughts with Horizons means they can make decisions which truly reflect what you find most important.
How to have your say
Submissions on the Regional Services Review closed on 11 September 2023. However, you are still able to share any feedback by emailing your thoughts to transport@horizons.govt.nz.
This webpage features two tools you can use to let Horizons know what public transport options you want - the survey and the map marker.
The survey only takes a couple of minutes to complete, and asks some questions about where you like to travel to, why you make those trips and how Horizons should prioritise creating new public transport services.
The map marker allows you to drop a mark on a map, then give us detailed information about why you travel there. You can also vote on marks other people drop, which gives Horizons a better idea of if suggested public transport routes are supported by the wider community.
We will also be getting out into communities to talk face-to-face with people and distribute physical surveys, as we recognise not everyone may be able to access this webpage. If you have any events you want us to attend, or are part of a community group and want us to come and talk with you, get in touch via the contact details further down this page.
Horizons Regional Council needs to know what regional public transport services you want, how often they should run and if you would be prepared to pay for increased services. Knowing these things will help Horizons shape the future of public transport across the region for many years to come.
We have already heard some ideas, such as a shuttle connecting Manawatū villages to Feilding, buses between Hāwera and Whanganui, and regular services between Palmerston North and Pahiatua or Palmerston North and Masterton.
We hope these ideas will act as a prompt for you to tell us what you want and need from regional public transport services.
Regional public transport is a key tool to reduce congestion, travel times and carbon emissions. If done well and with the community's needs in mind, regional public transport can be designed in a way which makes travel easier for everyone no matter how they choose to move across and beyond our region.
Regional public transport also helps people connect between communities. Right now, many people in our region find it difficult to take part in work and education, or access essential services such as grocery shopping and healthcare, because they have few options to get around. Giving those people public transport optiosn provides the kind of independece we all desire.
This review is not looking at changes to our urban services in Palmerston North, Feilding and Whanganui. Those reviews will happen at a different time.
We are also not looking to establish new rail services. However, we are interested in your ideas on how to connect to current rail services, such as Wellington's regional rail network, the Northern Explorer and the Capital Connection.
Survey
