Raglan and west Waikato

What you told us

Protect school connections. Respondents were strongly opposed to removing direct services to Hamilton East schools, with concerns about safety, missed connections and increased stress for students.
Improve commuter and weekend options. Respondents supported more peak-time services and better weekend coverage, especially for those working in or visiting Hamilton.
Local access and flexibility matter. We received mixed views on the Raglan town circulator, but overall support for a fixed-route service with connections to key areas like Ngarunui Beach, and interest in better integration with other transport modes.

All Raglan to Hamilton trips remain the same in the short term. Specifically, the trips that currently terminate in Hamilton East will not terminate at the Hamilton Transport Centre (which was proposed in the consultation). We have pushed any plans to change this out to the medium term pending further work.
Feedback recommended extending the Raglan local route to Ngarunui Beach / Whale Bay, so this local service will extend to include these areas.
Feedback on the local service also showed much stronger support for a fixed-route over an on-demand service, so that is what we will implement.
Feedback on the operating hours and frequency for the local town service helped confirm the 7am to 7pm service with a two-hour frequency.

No changes to frequency, hours or routes.
School assist routes remain unchanged.
Raglan to Hamilton remains at five return trips per day on weekdays, and three per day on weekends.
Whatawhata to Hamilton remains at six return trips/day (weekdays).
School assist routes remain unchanged.

Additional peak services:
- Raglan to Hamilton will gain one additional peak-time trip in the morning.
- Whatawhata to Hamilton will gain one additional peak-time trip in the morning on top of the additional Raglan to Hamilton trip (which travels through Whatawhata).
New Raglan town service:
- This service will operate on a fixed route every two hours from 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.
- The service will include a loop to Ngarunui Beach / Whale Bay.
All Raglan to Hamilton trips to terminate at Hamilton Transport Centre (not Hamilton East).

Increased frequency:
- Raglan to Hamilton will increase to every two hours off-peak and on weekends.
- Weekday service will extend to 9pm.
- Weekend trips will double to six return trips per day.