[chazndave]

Hi,

I'm just looking at places to live, anywhere in Auckland City seems to be a bit out of our price range (for what we want). I have just looked at the North Shore and this seems to be more in our league! I was wondering how people go on getting to work in the CBD. What is the bridge like for driving is it always congested? I remember seeing a bus lane being built ( so I thought) when we were over, is this true and is the bus service good for getting to CBD and if any one could examples of the time it takes from where they live (using a bus or the car) I would be really greatful.

thanks in adavnce!:D

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi,
At the moment the journey into Auckland in the rush hour is not good . On the 3 occasions that we had to travel to CBD in the rush hour it took us between 1hour and 1 hour 20 minutes. A lot of this is due to all the roadworks which seem to be never ending. The Onewa rd junction is closed southbound untill Nov 08. Out of the rush and we do the trip in 20 minutes.
However after the bad news is some slightly better news. They are building a seperate bus lane which is supposed to open early 08
http://www.busway.co.nz/

The bus terminal is already open in Albany and regular buses go to the CBD but until the lane is open there are still long delays. They keep promising improvements. We shall just have to wait and see

Kind regards

Dave and Caroline

[chazndave]

thanks for the info, its a great help! My husbands journey is like that here at the moment, thats just what he is trying to escape, but if and when the bus lane is completed it will be an improvement... i'm sure!...

[Milliemoo]

Hi there,

The North Shore is a pretty big place, so it really depends where you are. It can take anything from 10mins on the ferry to 1.5hrs from the North driving in rush hour.

Milliemoo

[starkhorn]

There are ferrys from Birkenhead, Northcote, Bayswater and of course Devonport and are pretty good at 15-25 mins to get to the CBD. The wharfs usually have parking spaces buy they tend to be gone by 8:00ish or so (at least at birkenhead).

Driving greatly depends on where you live and I've always found getting onto the motorway to be the biggest problem. I use Onewa Road which can take 30-45mins just to get onto the motorway so hit and miss.

As I lived 10mins walk to Bikenhead ferry then I always took the ferry and used the car as a last resort.

[DMcG]

I drive the other way every day - Royal Oak to Takapuna - and from what I can see there's nose to tail traffic heading into the city from around 6:30am onwards.

Have a look at the congestion map on Transits Website (http://traffic.transit.govt.nz/Traffic.do?view=cctv#). Looking at the webcams and the colour schemes will give you a good idea.
That said, it really depends on where in the North Shore you want to live. If you're wwithin a short distance of Devenport or Birkenhead, I think they have park and rides for the ferries. Or if you're up in Whangaparoa, you could get a ferry from Gulf harbour - it all depends on how close you are to the ferries at either end of the journey. Roadworks are set to go until late next year before the bus lanes will be open (I think). Then they'll start work on the viaduct/tunnel combo around Victoria park - THEN there's the Newmarket viaduct realignment.... :wah

Dougie

[Happyfeet]

If your travelling into town from anywhere like Takapuna,Milford, Bayswater and want to use the bus then you wont have any problems at all. Its an easy ride and would take approximately 3/4 hour depending on traffic (used to do it from Bayswater and think thats how long it took!!). Of course Bayswater you have the ferry too. If your coming from an area like Birkdale which is where I am now then again you will have no problems with buses and takes roughly about 35 mins. The only thing with the Birkdale buses is the price. For some reason they are more expensive than some of the buses that are run by different companies. For me to get into town and back is 8.60 a day! which is think is outragous but at least the service is there.

I dont think you will have any problems getting into town via bus from pretty much most areas of the North Shore but am talking about the closer areas of the Shore though. Think its harder when you start getting further out.

[mgbridges]

I get the bus in from Campbells Bay and it takes me about 50 minutes door to door (I work on Queen Street). The bus service is not amazingly frequent and the timetables are frustratingly vague but it just about works. Things should speed up considerably once the busway is finished (supposed to be by the end of 2007 but now looking like early 2008).

With a good book and an iPod it isn't too bad! I wouldn't want to be sat in a car though.

Martin

[RussandViv]

Sorry if this is a really daft question, but are there any cycle lanes for the keen cyclists? Or would that be taking extreme risks!

[starkhorn]

do you mean a cycle lane on the harbour bridge? if so then no there isn't one at all. No footpath or cycle lane.

[RussandViv]

Thanks for the reply Starkhorn, In that case it would definitely be too dangerous to cycle across (IMO) :no Oh well.

[Caroline and Dave]

I think you will find that cyclists and pedestrians are not permitted on the bridge anyway, but the good news is they are going to install a cycleway but no definite start date yet. See here
http://www.caa.org.nz/ahb.html

Regards

Dave and Caroline

[starkhorn]

Thanks for the reply Starkhorn, In that case it would definitely be too dangerous to cycle across (IMO) :no Oh well.

I notice though that there are always people with bikes on the ferry. So alot of people seem to cycle to the ferry on the north shore, get on the ferry and then cycle to where-ever in the city.

I'm not sure if there are many bike lanes though in the city, as I don't cycle then I never pay attention....sorry.