Less than half a percent of Hawke's Bay commuters take the bus to work.
Buses in Hawke's Bay are seen by many as inconvenient and not useful. Photo: RNZ/Tom Kitchen
Driving has been increasing across the region in the last decade, and that is against national targets to reduce emissions.
So the region wants to make changes, which might mean people have to get their walking shoes on instead.
A morning bus commute from Napier to Hastings took this reporter 35 minutes - 10 more minutes than in the car.
The bus was relatively busy - about three quarters full in a 40-seater bus, even if most people were hospital workers who are able to get free bus rides to and from work.
It only cost $1.50 to get from Napier to Hastings and back.
There are about 11 different bus routes in Hawke's Bay and a new on-demand service in Hastings, but using public transport is not popular.
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People on the streets of Napier told RNZ the bus was not convenient, a hassle, and did not take people close enough to the destination they needed.
Others did not want to take the bus with Covid-19 still active in the community.
Some had just not motivated themselves to do it and others liked the control of having a car.
Further down the road by the bus stop, people taking the bus said the $1 a trip price was a major reason for taking it.
Other people said they took it due to lack of parking and it was much cheaper than petrol.
But still - 80 percent of commuters into region drive to work.
The regional council's policy and regulation manager Katrina Brunton said she was aware of the problems.
"We are well aware of our current bus service being inconvenient, not useful for most people, most of our routes run only every thirty minutes to one hour, meaning long wait times, the service finishes quite early - doesn't serve people that work late or early."
So the council is thinking of changing that - scrapping services that go down every street in favour of faster routes.
It did mean people would have to spend more time on their feet walking further to a bus stop, but the council said that was offset by passengers arriving at their destination sooner.
The council also wanted better services for rural areas - proposing a commuter run between Central Hawke's Bay and Hastings, to run by 2025
It was also going to have a look at what it could do for Wairoa which does not have much, if anything, in the way of public transport.
Michelle McIlroy, who co-chairs the Māori committee, explained the problem.
"As you said we've the lowest car ownership but no public transport and the highest deprivation statistics in New Zealand. The drivers' licences processing is conducted out of town So it could be a lot of our drivers aren't even fully licensed so we're severely disadvantaged."
People can have their say on whether this plan is good or not from the beginning of next month by making a submission.
