A new website for Waikato’s bus passengers makes it even easier for people to find out how they can be driven to work, study and play.

At its first meeting today, the Hamilton public transport joint committee heard details of the new features on Waikato Regional Council’s BUSIT website.

“The site went live yesterday and we’re already getting good feedback from visitors who like the new features and ease of navigation,” said the council’s communications manager, Karen Bennett.

Some key features of the new BUSIT website include:

• The Hamilton city ‘journey planner’ and service updates are now available from every web page.
• The new scalable text feature allows the site to be more easily read, particularly across dense timetable information.
• The addition of tabs at the top of each route page allows people to easily navigate to timetables, route maps and bus stop locations, without the need for scrolling down lists.

The committee also heard that bus patronage in Hamilton alone has grown by 213 per cent since 2002, with a spike in numbers in 2006 when the Orbiter service was launched and a number of other service improvements were made.

The number of hits on the BUSIT website increased by 53 per cent during the ‘I’m driven’ marketing campaign between November 2011 and March 2012. The campaign featured Hamilton bus users sharing why they chose to be driven on BUSIT services.

The committee heard that the proportion of people visiting the website from a mobile device has risen from 8 per cent in July-September 2011 to 22.6 per cent in the same three months this year.

To respond to the increasing numbers of passengers on the go, the regional council is underway with work to make the site easier to view on a smartphone and tablet.

To keep up to date with the latest BUSIT information visit www.busit.co.nz or follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/BUSITWaikato