Brakes put on buses after road “smashed up”

Nelson City Council is temporarily putting the brakes on the new eBus service on Jenner Rd, reportedly due to the road being “smashed up” by the weight of the electric buses.

The eBus service started on 1 August and includes a new route (route 3) that travels up and down the steep road in Toi Toi, which for some sections, is only one-way.

However, with 48 trips up and down Jenner Rd every day of the week and a gross vehicle mass of 18 tonne, the buses may have proved too heavy for it to handle, and from this weekend the route will be diverted off the road, as well as Emano St.

“The council has decided to divert route 3 from 30 September until further notice so we can fully assess the works required to carry out repairs to Jenner Rd,” says Alec Louverdis, group infrastructure manager.

The assessment will determine repair options and whether buses can return to Jenner Rd and Emano St. Until this decision is made, buses will travel along St Vincent St between Toi Toi St and Totara St, and two new temporary bus stops will be added.

Alec says the council has received nine customer enquiries about the state of the road.

“We have been following these up with inspections and small repair jobs when required.”

Several of the worst-hit areas were patched up last Friday.

To determine what needs to be done to repair the road, he says they need to divert the route away from the affected area.

“The road will remain open for residents with possible delays/detours. While the repair work is being completed, the council will also undertake investigations into the underlying pavement so we can assess how the road can be made more resilient.”

The assessment and minor repairs are expected to cost approximately $10k, which will be covered by the general road maintenance budget.

Several Jenner Rd residents approached Nelson Weekly last week, with one saying the buses had “smashed up” the road, while another said it “looked like an earthquake had hit”.

“It’s like bringing a freight train up here,” says one resident, who did not want to be named. “They go so fast for such a big vehicle; they storm up that hill.”

At a narrow point of [the road], there has been damage across a 60m - 70m section where the buses and most residential vehicles use the same wheel path.

There are no bus stops on Jenner Rd - there was one planned, but it was scrapped after residents expressed concerns about the loss of parking (35 parks). Some also said that the road was too narrow to run a bus down safely. Several residents spoke in the council chambers on 16 June, with one saying she would “sell her house” if the bus stop had proceeded.

Alec says they “anticipated” that some maintenance and/or strengthening of underlying pavements would be required across the network as the buses started driving along the new routes.

“Many of the roads that the new eBus service travels down were either already established bus routes, or frequently see heavy vehicle movements,” he says.

“As areas have come to our attention, we’re carrying out repairs and strengthening the road.”

The bus will no doubt be missed by many Toi Toi residents, with 1,474 journeys on this route during August.