Auckland’s public transportation system isn’t the greatest; however, they offer sufficient bus and train services to get you around the city.
An interesting mode of transportation available for shoppers, is the City Circuit Red Bus. This bus service, which is free, goes around the inner city area of Auckland in continuous 10 minute loops. This service is available for shoppers and visitors to hop on and off of 7 days a week from 8AM until 6AM.
The environmentally friendly bus service is the white colored Link bus, which operates around the Inner City rim. This costs NZ$1.50 a trip, travels in a loop through some of Aucklands inner-city suburbs. The bus operates every 10 minutes from 6AM until 7PM (Monday-Friday), and on Saturdays from 7AM to 6PM. It operates every 15 minutes from 6 to 11:30pm Monday through Saturday, and 7am to 10pm on Sunday. Stagecoach Day and Group Passes are valid on The Link.
Stagecoach Auckland (tel. 09/366-6400), is an intra-city bus system, which offers a good service to most of Auckland’s highlights and tourist destinations. Schedule for this bus service is available at most visitor centers. Fares vary depending on the zones being traveled in but generally range from NZ$1.60 to NZ$10. For frequent riders, it is recommended to purchase a 1 day Auckland Day pass (group passes are also available), which entitles you to unlimited travel. These passes are available with the driver or terminals before boarding the bus.
The double-decker Auckland Explorer Bus is a hop on, hop off bus service that (tel. 0800/439-756 or 09/571-3119) takes tourists to 14 major attractions. Further details regarding destinations, timings and pricing are available from the website.
Warning: Auckland buses stop running around 11:30pm (earlier on some routes) Monday through Saturday, and 10pm on Sunday. If you’re planning on staying out late, you can use Stagecoach’s NiteRider Bus(tel. 09/366-6400), which runs from 1am to 3am on Friday and Saturday. Although bus stops often have electronic displays, giving an estimate of waiting times, they tend to lie so don’t follow them!
If one is interested in visiting other cities in New Zealand then the main long-distance bus company in New Zealand, is InterCity (09-623 1503). Newmans Coach is the travel and sightseeing wing of this bus group.
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