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Otago Daily Times
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Council shows support of new bus route
Oamaru commuters wanting to catch a bus to Dunedin will have to wait at least three more years, under draft regional transport plans but politicians here want funding for even more transport services. The Waitaki District Council has shown its support of the introduction of a 112km direct bus connection between Oamaru and Dunedin and a connecting service to the town's North End in a submission to Otago Regional Council's draft Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP) 2025-35. "WDC has strongly advocated to ORC for public transport opportunities in the Waitaki district," Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said. While the council continued to support the ongoing Total Mobility programme that provides opportunities for door-to-door public transport for disabled people in Oamaru and the regional bus service between Dunedin and Palmerston, the submission laid out aspirations for improved connectivity for Oamaru residents. "One example relevant in the Waitaki district is providing public transport options to access hospital services in Dunedin," Mr Kircher said. "WDC supports the implementation of daily services between Oamaru and Dunedin via Palmerston." While a key proposal in ORC's draft RPTP is to "investigate" an Oamaru-Dunedin service, the WDC submission asks for much more. The council submission also pushes for the implementation of a "fixed urban connecter service" between Weston and Oamaru via South Hill, as well as "on-demand" service between Oamaru North and the town's city centre. The submission suggested the regional transport plan "proactively engage with communities and organisations, including iwi, to foster trust and ensure public transport projects meet local demand and align with community priorities". It also suggests that a connected and integrated network needs to deliver "a reliable and convenient" transport system that "supports local economies and enhances community resilience" in a manner that represents value for money. Despite not having any direct public transport services operating in the town, Oamaru residents are already charged a $5.45 public transport rate by ORC to support regional planning and potential future services. The inclusion of the Oamaru to Dunedin proposal responds to community interest expressed during the Long-Term Plan 2024-34 consultation, where over 400 submissions region-wide highlighted demand for public transport trials, including in Oamaru. However, an on-demand bus service within Oamaru itself is not planned. The wording of ORC's draft plan also means the introduction of a direct service is still years away, as it is listed as a "medium to long-term initiative" (3–10 years away) due to funding constraints and the need for further planning. The draft plan also proposed raising passenger fares by 50c to $2.50 as well as the introduction of fare zones, where the council could charge more for longer trips (for example, the 50km Palmerston-to-Dunedin route), which could potentially affect Oamaru residents if the Oamaru-Dunedin service is implemented. ORC Moeraki constituency representative councillor Kevin Malcolm said the council was aware of the need. "Council is committed to finding a real option to provide a public transport service between Oamaru and Dunedin but talk needs to stop and we need action." Public consultation on the draft RPTP was undertaken from March 24 to May 2. A total of 549 submissions were received and 32 submitters presented to the regional council Hearings Panel, which heard three days of public submissions from May 13. The recommendations of the Hearings Panel will be presented to the regional council for approval at its monthly meeting, later this month.
Otago Daily Times
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
WDC after more public transport in region
Oamaru commuters wanting to catch a bus to Dunedin will have to wait at least three more years under draft regional transport plans but the region's politicians want funding for even more transport services. The Waitaki District Council has shown its support of the introduction of a 112km direct bus connection between Oamaru and Dunedin and a connecting service to the town's North End in a submission to Otago Regional Council's draft Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP) 2025–2035. "WDC has strongly advocated to ORC for public transport opportunities in the Waitaki district," Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said. While the council continued to support the ongoing Total Mobility programme that provides opportunities for door-to-door public transport for disabled people in Oamaru and the regional bus service between Dunedin and Palmerston, the submission laid out aspirations for improved connectivity for Oamaru residents. "One example relevant in the Waitaki district is providing public transport options to access hospital services in Dunedin," Mr Kircher said. "WDC supports the implementation of daily services between Oamaru and Dunedin via Palmerston." While a key proposal in ORC's draft RPTP is to "investigate" an Oamaru-Dunedin service, the WDC submission asks for much more. The council submission also pushes for the implementation of a "fixed urban connecter service" between Weston and Oamaru via South Hill, as well as an "on-demand" service between Oamaru North and the town's city centre. The submission suggested the regional transport plan "proactively engage with communities and organisations, including iwi, to foster trust and ensure public transport projects meet local demand and align with community priorities". Oamaru residents are already charged a $5.45 public transport rate by the ORC to support regional planning and potential future services. The inclusion of the Oamaru to Dunedin proposal responds to community interest expressed during the Long-Term Plan 2024–34 consultation in which over 400 submissions region-wide highlighted demand for public transport trials, including in Oamaru.
Otago Daily Times
27-04-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Review of staff numbers inevitable as budget honed
Alex Parmley. Photo: ODT files A review of Waitaki District Council staffing is inevitable as it finalises a budget for the next few years. The council held a workshop on April 15 to begin honing department budgets for the proposed 2025-26 long-term plan (LTP). The discussions followed a revision of all council departments under "transformation" from July last year. Departments were cut from four to five with the respective managers now termed as "directors". Chief executive Alex Parmley told councillors last month new department "teams" under transformation — which he emphatically said is not a restructure — were yet to fully be "stood up". The consequent department costings were also not ready in time for the formal LTP public consultation period from February 4. Earlier this month, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said a governance briefing on April 15 was "the first opportunity for quite sometime" to get a clearer picture. A closed workshop to begin fleshing out individual department budgets was scheduled that afternoon. Mr Kircher said the potential impact was "about people's jobs". But getting a handle on comparable department costs was complex by "the transformation" with previous headings disappearing in the new structure. "Some of the roles, the funding itself, is now made up of components more than it was before." The council announced a 9% reduction of its 211 fulltime equivalent roles last July. Most staff were to reapply for redefined positions, with some choosing to leave. In February councillors were told staff costs would be over budget by $1.4 million by the end of the current financial year. The budget for the first six months was $8.93m but the spend was $9.6m. On February 25, Mr Parmley said the 9% staff reduction had not yet been finalised, but he expected a cost reduction down the line. "We've got other costs going up associated with staff though. "The 9% reduction isn't all going to come in straight away. "I would expect we'll be looking at a reduced personnel cost." Mr Kircher told the Oamaru Mail "transformation" was never about cutting budgets. "One of the outcomes is we will be delivering [services] better, whether its for the same money, or more for less." As of last week he believed "quite a number" of vacancies remained at the council after some staff chose to leave. Acting chief executive Lisa Baillie said one FTE position at the council prior to transformation is now being filled by an external contractor "on a temporary basis". Recruitment for that position in support services area was under way.
Associated Press
27-01-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Referees in Germany's Bundesliga to start in-stadium announcements for VAR calls
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German soccer referees will start making NFL-style announcements to the crowd to explain video review rulings starting this week. Bayern Munich and German champion Bayer Leverkusen are among nine clubs taking part in a trial program at their home games from Saturday onward, the German league said Monday. Following on from a trial in the English League Cup earlier this month, five games this week have been selected for the first wave of Germany's program, including Bayern's game against Holstein Kiel on Saturday. It will only affect a minority of games in the top two men's leagues for now. Referees will use a headset microphone linked to the public address system to communicate directly with fans after incidents that required review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Only the final decision will be broadcast in the stadium, not discussions between the on-field referee and colleagues. In Germany, many fans still resent VAR for interrupting the flow of the game and, as some see it, penalizing defenders too harshly. The chief executive of the refereeing body for the leagues, Knut Kircher, argued Monday that making the VAR process clearer to fans was the logical next step. 'Despite all the controversial discussions about the video assistants, we want to keep working together with the (German Football League) and its clubs to make the referees' decisions in the stadium more transparent,' Kircher said in a statement. 'In the 'public announcement' we see a clear first step toward greater clarity and we have taken care to train our referees on the procedures. Therefore we are confident that we can successfully support this new approach even if it will seem unusual to begin with.' Soccer is a relative latecomer to announcements which are widely used in other team sports. NFL referees were given wireless microphones in 1975 to explain penalty decisions. Major League Baseball began in-park announcements during replay reviews in 2022 and microphones have long-been used by rugby referees. In soccer, in-stadium announcements were in place at the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023 and other FIFA events. ___
