Next stop Nelson Bus Hub – work at Millers Acre to start

Work to transform Millers Acre into the transport hub for Nelson in time for summer is due to start in July.

The development of the site, estimated to cost $2.8 million, will once completed, be the hub for all Nelson bus services including the InterCity, school bus, tourism and eBus services.

“This new central city transport hub is about bringing together on one site the eBus, InterCity and other bus services such as those to our National Parks,” says Nelson Mayor Nick Smith.
“This integration helps grow usage by enabling convenient connections between services and makes public transport easier to find for visitors.

“The shift from the Bridge Street eBus depot to this new Nelson Bus Hub is needed to accommodate the growth in services and because of the upcoming disruption and changes from the Bridge to Better project. This new hub will have six bus bays, compared with four at the current Bridge Street depot. Council intends to sell the old site for development as part of its city revitalisation plans flowing from an expressions of interest process last year.”

Group Infrastructure Manager Alec Louverdis says this exciting project will include not only its very successful ebus service, but also wider services.

“The development of the site will allow for Nelson Tasman’s eBuses, tourism, regional and school buses, making it a one-stop-shop for Nelson’s coachline services with a much-improved passenger experience.”

The new hub will feature six bus bays, allowing multiple services to operate side-by-side.

Passengers will have a large, comfortable waiting room, with improved air circulation that will assist in colder months. Improved indoor and outdoor CCTV monitoring, linked directly to the police monitoring system, will be installed.

Automated announcements of departures will be broadcast via an audio system with speakers indoors and outdoors. Councillor Campbell Rollo, Chair of the Regional Accessibility Forum, is particularly proud of this new feature.

“The audio system is something that our forum really advocated for alongside some of Nelson’s blind citizens. This will benefit not just those who are vision impaired but also our elderly community, parents busy with children and anyone nearby waiting for their bus,” says Campbell.

The upgrades continue outdoors too with new digital displays for bus services and tourist information, increased lighting and outdoor timber seating. Canopies will be installed to ensure dry passage and shade from the waiting room to each bus.

One standout feature of the Nelson Bus Hub will be a rain garden.

"Currently, rainwater from Millers Acre ends up in the Maitai River. A rain garden and a ‘jellyfish’ device will help protect the ecology of our river system,” says Alec.

The rain garden will look like a standard garden, but with rocks and stones rather than bark. Underneath there will be a filter system that will remove contaminants, cleaning the water before it's discharged into the Maitai River.

During larger weather events, a ‘jellyfish’ filter will clean the stormwater before discharged into the Maitai.

“Jellyfish is a great way to describe it,” says Alec. “It’s a filter with a number of tentacles that catch litter, debris, oils and even pollutants such as nitrogen and metals.”

The surrounding landscape provided inspiration for the design of the Nelson Bus Hub. Both the outdoor paving and indoor flooring replicate the twists and turns of the Maitai River as it travels to the sea. New landscaping and wayfinding will tie the whole hub together ensuring passengers, whether they are using the InterCity or eBus service, know exactly where their bus will depart.

Initial enabling works for this project included the construction of a new carpark at 41 Halifax Street to provide public parking spaces. The mural of the Kawau on the wall at 41 Halifax introduces a toi Māori element to the hub and will be visible to passengers waiting for their bus.

Moving the hub from Bridge Street aligns with the larger city development project Bridge to Better.

“Not only does it remove the buses from Bridge Street, but it opens the potential for inner-city development.” says Alec.

While contractors are working at Millers Acre all commercial services that use the site will be relocated. Pedestrian access to River Kitchen will be detoured along Trafalgar Street and the Maitai Walkway. The café will continue operating as usual. The toilet block at Millers Acre will be temporarily closed at times during construction.
“Before work begins, we are taking stock of operators who use the carpark,” says Alec.

“We’ve worked closely with Nelson Coachlines, school bus services and regional tourism services, but we want to ensure that we haven’t missed anyone. If you’re a commercial operator who uses Millers Acre, please get in contact with Customer Services at Council.”