Miramar residents have complained of a lack of evening buses, and fear what is now a walk home through dimly lit streets after route changes.

Wellington ratepayers will fork out more than $7000 a week to fly in an overseas expert to fix the region's faulty electronic bus timetables.

Greater Wellington Regional Council said the specialist, from the United Kingdom-based company which provides real-time information (RTI) boards at bus stations, would be in Wellington for five weeks at a cost $36,000.

That figure included $11,800 for flights and accommodation, and $24,200 in fees and expenses to address the system's poor performance.

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Both Greater Wellington Regional councillor Daran Ponter (left) and Rongotai MP Paul Eagle were at a public meeting over buses at Miramar on Thursday evening.

Regional councillors offered apologies and concessions to bitter south Wellington residents at a meeting in Miramar on Thursday night, while also announcing that more services would be introduced.

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Councillor Daran Ponter, deputy chair of the sustainable transport committee, told about 120 residents in Miramar's Gateway Baptist Church that new routes were being considered.

SUPPLIED An international expert has been flown in to address problems with the Real Time Information (RTI) boards at bus stations.

There had already been improvements just 24 hours after the expert arrived, Ponter said.

"There was nothing more within our technical ability for our organisation to do, that's why we've flown someone in."

But residents wanted more buses. In northern Miramar, commuters are now taking three buses to reach the hospital or CBD, where formerly it was one.

"We have started negotiations with the operator to put back the 18e as an all-day, all-week service," Ponter said.

He proposed a "route split" arrangement with Seatoun residents, which may have the number 2 bus service north Miramar every second or third run.

"It is what it is, a proposal, and I guess what I'm seeking is your views and support."

The division of labour among regional councillors was clear: Ponter offered possible solutions, while Ian McKinnon offered apologies "without qualification".

A now-familiar justification for the bus overhaul given by McKinnon – a shift in Wellington's population, increased congestion, and the need for a more sustainable bus system – was met with laughs.

Of the crowd, asked to raise their hands in response to grievances, the majority had missed buses, had used other transport, and from a bus window had watched their connecting bus leave a hub.

Half had been late to work and a quarter were spending more on travel.

Wellington had gone from a "world-class" bus system to a "cattle-class" network, one resident said.

Miramar resident Sarah Lancaster said she felt vulnerable taking the bus, which now dropped her off 15 minutes' walk from her house.

She now walked dimly lit streets past parks and a school, in an area where there had previously been sexually motivated attacks, she said.

"I don't feel safe busing anymore. Someone's going to get hurt, it's not good."

A Strathmore Park resident said the new system had created a "wall" between the suburb and the city for migrants, who weren't acknowledged by the council.

Regional councillors Roger Blakeley and Sue Kedgley, and Wellington City councillors Chris Calvi-Freeman, Sarah Free and Simon Marsh were also in attendance.

Rongotai MP Paul Eagle, who chaired the meeting, softly humoured the crowd through the tense open mic session, into a feedback exercise that had complaints written on Post-it notes.

"Apologies, I thought there was going to be tea and coffee, but it just wasn't there ... maybe it didn't turn up," Eagle said.

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