Electric buses and fare changes, ferry service improvements and train news
The start of 2021 has brought a few changes to make Auckland's buses, trains and ferries more sustainable and offer better service to the millions of locals and visitors each year who get around Auckland and its city centre using public transport. There are some exciting changes coming in the next couple of months too – like the reopening of the front entrance of the grand downtown Britomart Transport Centre.
Public transport fares – changes from February 7
- Good news for people travelling frequently or off-peak – with discounted off-peak fares becoming a permanent feature and a daily fare cap of $20 introduced for travel on trains, buses (excludes SkyBus) and Bayswater, Birkenhead, Northcote Point and Devonport inner harbour ferry services using AT HOP
- Auckland Transport’s annual fare review will see bus and train fares increase by an average of four per cent, or a maximum of 35c per fare
- See all of the fare change details here
Buses
- The CityLink bus service will be fully electric from next month and AT yesterday announced it intends (pending Auckland Council budget confirmation) for this to apply to the entire fleet by 2030 - a decade earlier than previously planned
- For those taking advantage of the $5 city-airport route using the Southern Line trains and transferring to the airport by bus, the new Airport Link e-bus service provides rapid 10 minute frequency connections between trains and the airport. For now, the service will run from Manukau via Papatoetoe station until the upgraded Puhinui station reopens in May.
- See the full list of route and schedule changes on the AT website here
Ferries
- People using the Devonport ferry to get between the North Shore and the city centre will enjoy 20-minute frequency services over an extended peak window of 7 hours a day across the morning and afternoon, with services also linking up with the updated Devonport bus timetable
- Services to and from the city centre and Hobsonville Point (via Beach Haven) are being boosted from 8 trips a day to 12 (5 trips AM, 7 trips PM)
Trains
- Train services to and from Britomart Station are back up and running after track upgrades were completed over the end of December and early January
- We’ll soon be using the front entrance of Britomart Transport Centre in the heritage CPO building. After being closed for the past few years so CRL tunnels could be built underneath the station and the building itself refurbished (including new retail spaces – businesses being announced soon) the station will be in full service again in March.
