Let's get Manawatū moving!

Manawatū is a picturesque district located in Te Ika a Māui/the North Island. Made up of a key town in the form of Aorangi Feilding surrounded by smaller settlements, people move between these areas to access services, get to work and school, see friends and whānau, and take part in activities they love. Public transport is one way this happens.

At the moment, Manawatū District has two public transport offerings:

  • The 301 Orbiter, introduced in January 2022, which takes a circular route around suburban Aorangi Feilding before stopping near Manchester Square.
  • The 311 Commuter, which also does a loop of Aorangi Feilding suburbs before heading to Papaioea Palmerston North. It does the reverse route on the way back.

We're all about keeping Manawatū moving with public transport options designed to meet the needs of people who live, work and play in the district. But to do this, we need to know if the services we provide are what people want, and what changes could make things better.

We're doing the review in two parts

  • Part 1 - SURVEY CLOSED

    Give us your broad thoughts about public transport in Manawatū so we can figure out what people travelling to, from and within the district want from our services.

    Learn what we asked in mid-2024 

  • Part 2 - SURVEY CLOSED

    We used the feedback from Part 1 to design proposed route changes, including the possibility of two new routes in Aorangi Feilding and a faster service between there and Papaioea Palmerston North. This survey closed 22 November 2024

    Learn about the proposed routes 

Here's what we need you to tell us:

  • Your thoughts on public transport in Manawatū, whether you use the bus or not.
  • What you think of current services - how they work well, what improvements there could be, and if they could work differently together.
  • If public transport should be different, including if you're happy to pay more for a better level of service or less for a lower level of service.

By giving us your thoughts, you'll help us to deliver a public transport network which works for you and your community. We’ve got some FAQs below, and some contact details elsewhere on the page (further down on mobile, up and on the right on desktop devices) if you still have questions.

FAQs

Our contracts for running bus services are for a limited period of time. As those contracts get close to ending, we review current services to see if they are working well and what changes people want to see. We then use this information to figure out how services should work, which companies then bid to run.

The contract for Manawatū services is ending soon, so we're asking if the services currently on offer should stay the same or be changed.

This review is asking about services in the Manawatū District, while the new fully electric Palmy network is in the Palmerston North District. You can learn more about Palmy's new network here.

You're welcome to give us your thoughts on the new Palmy network by emailing transport@horizons.govt.nz or calling free phone 0508 800 800.

You're thinking about our Regional Services Review, which we did in 2023. That review helped us to learn how you want to use public transport to get across and beyond the Horizons Region. You can learn more about that review here.

The Manawatū Public Transport Review is about services in Manawatū. While we've taken on board what we learned from the Regional Services Review, we're wanting more detailed information to make sure public transport in Manawatū is suitable for those travelling to and in the district.

Absolutely! There were 91,860 trips taken on Manawatū public transport services in 2023, a 16% increase on 2022 patronage. The numbers we have for 2024 so far also show strong growth.

In Part 1, you can use our Mark the Map survey to give some feedback about bus stops and shelters. We can then pass this information on to Manawatū District Council, who manage the stops and shelters.

Rural Bus Manawatū is a project by Neighbourhood Support Manawatū with the aim of providing rural Manawatū residents a way to get to Feilding. While we've provided the initiative support, it is not run by us. You can learn more about it here.

If you make an account (use the big blue button near the top), you can then follow this project (use the follow button on the left near the headline). If you do that, you'll get an email whenever we have news to share about this review.

A bus at the Manchester Square bus stop in Feilding