A bus hub under construction in Miramar. Some of the hubs could be scrapped before they are even built.

The need for Wellington's controversial new bus hubs will be reviewed at the same time as some of them are still being built.

The $9.3 million project to construct seven new hubs – places where commuters transfer from local bus routes onto core routes – was part of the city's new network rolled out in July.

But the system has been highly unpopular, especially in suburbs like north Miramar where a trip to Newtown in the off-peak now involves catching three buses instead of just one.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF The seven hubs, including this one in Kilbirnie, cost $9.3 million to build.

Now, with some of the hubs still under construction and others only recently opened, Greater Wellington Regional Council is set to reassess whether many of them are even needed.

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"My view is we should be looking to connect up the routes and remove the need for people to have to hub in the first place," the council's sustainable transport committee deputy chairman, Daran Ponter, said.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF The hub on Riddiford St, Newtown, is also still under construction.

"There are 5 per cent of people who are hubbing – why shouldn't that be 2 per cent?"

The seven hubs are in Johnsonville, Brooklyn, Newtown, Miramar, Kilbirnie, Karori, and Courtenay Place in central Wellington.

But Ponter said with planned changes to some bus routes, the need for some of the hubs – especially in places like Miramar and Newtown – would be significantly reduced.

"Public transport for individuals is for private journeys – we just can't anticipate all the private journeys that people want to make.

"But we are duty-bound to look at how we can move people more efficiently and effectively. That means where we can see potential for removing the need for hubbing, we should do that."

As for the $9m spent, Ponter said the result would be that busy areas would now have the sort of bus stops they should always have had –. including bus bays, good lighting, and CCTV cameras.

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Regional councillor Daran Ponter said there was probably no need for 5 per cent of commuters to have to transfer buses. (File photo)

Regional council chief executive Greg Campbell said the council's focus continued to be on delivering optimum performance from the network, which included transfers at hubs.

"As we have indicated there will in due course be a review of the network design, which will consider the role and performance of the hubs and whether any changes may be necessary."

Regional councillor Sue Kedgley said she wanted to review all of the hubs, because it seemed as though only the ones in Kilbirnie and Johnsonville, and possibly Karori, were working.

SUPPLIED Fellow councillor Sue Kedgley said it appeared only two or three of the hubs were working. (File photo)

"In particular, hubbing for small journeys doesn't make sense," she said. "It's just absolutely pointless to expect someone in north Miramar to have to hub at the Miramar shops, then again at Kilbirnie, just to get to Newtown.

"It's just not going to work."

Councillors had received the message "loud and clear" during a series of public meetings that the hubs were discouraging public transport use, Kedgley said.

Ponter conceded there was "an element" of reverting to the old system, but it would never fully revert because that system had its own flaws.

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