Communities on the South Island’s West Coast and Te Anau are celebrating the return of the InterCity bus network following an announcement yesterday (19th June).

InterCity CEO John Thorburn said the company was excited to resume services and reconnect communities.

“It’s great to have more of our South Island services up running again as we know they provide vital link for local communities. These new services had relied heavily on international visitors to make them viable and thanks to positive and ongoing discussions with the Ministry of Transport about providing financial support, we have decided to restart services,” Mr Thorburn said.

The West Coast and Te Anau had previously been left off an initial network re-start last month, leaving the region without scheduled public transport between Christchurch, Greymouth, Franz Josef, Central Otago, Te Anau, Gore and Dunedin.

InterCity Spokesman, Daniel Rode, said “from 24 June we will begin operating InterCity services from Te Anau with same-day connections to the likes of Gore, Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch”.

The new bus services would operate on a reduced four-day-per-week schedule with additional suspended services expected to be re-started in the coming weeks.

Southland District Council Mayor, Gary Tong, said it was brilliant news. 

He said the bus service was essential for people in the region who didn’t have the use of vehicles and who depended on it for work and other social travel, it was not just for international travellers.

Mr Tong said he had been communicating with the bus company regarding the re-starting of services and was encouraged to learn that central government had enabled the regional service re-start.

“It’s great that the mayoral voices have been heard,” he said.

The company also announced the re-start on 4th July of its Queenstown – Te Anau – Milford Sound scenic tours which can also be booked as travel sectors.