Fireworks: more bangs and buses. No trouble
Last month’s Meridian Energy Fireworks was a great success. New Brighton itself and the stretches of beach north and south of the Pier hosted what was thought to be a record crowd, although numbers were difficult to estimate by the time night fell.
Police reported no incidents. Council Park Rangers were similarly impressed that no fires broke out in the sand dunes. And the increased fireworks budget made being there more worthwhile than ever.
Following a staff review of the special bus services that had been provided in past years from the city to New Brighton, a decision was made to change. Instead of only eight buses leaving at 6pm from key points around the city and all departing Brighton at 10.15pm, Environment Canterbury instead scheduled additional “assist” buses on the standard routes.
In past years only about 500 used the free service. This year, with ECan augmenting their Metro services to a total of 23 buses (running every 10 minutes), about 2500 people travelled to and from the fireworks. ECan and bus company staff were on hand to ensure people got a good service — in one case a bus that was to go to The Palms was full of people wanting to go to the City Exchange, so it was redirected to that destination.
ECan and the Council are delighted with the result and will repeat the service next year. |
