[spid]

HI there:yes

I was wondering what the different communting times (via anything available - car, train, bus) from the different suburbs was into Central Welly (where hubby should be working and possibly the kids for schooling if we can wheddle a good rate out of the private schools or persuade the good schools to take us from out of area!). ANy one got a clue?

[Wonderbob]

I'll just talk of the Wellington city burbs (i.e not the Hutt Valley, Porirua/Whitby way, Kapiti coast - all towns/cities in their own right, and up the line aways). These are peak traffic times and may vary slightly.

1) Mt Victoria/Kelburn/TeAro/Thorndon/Oriental Bay - so close you may as walk it
1) Brooklyn/Mt Cook/Newtown - 20-30 mins in peak traffic by bus, about 40% faster by car - (I live in Brooklyn and often just walk to work + take the bus home)
2) Island Bay/Lyall Bay/South Coast/Haitaitai, add another 5-10 mins
3) Miramar/Seatoun way, add another 5 mins
4) Karori/Crofton Downs/Ngaio/Khandallah - similar times to 3 except, more time for Karori less for Ngaio/Khandallah.

Hope this helps, cheers Bob.

[IanW99]

From Porirua area out of rush hour takes 20-30 minutes, places such as Tawa and Johnsonville will be quicker than this. Times by train are around the same.

Ian

[gpbenton]

Public Transport times can be told from the metlink website
http://www.metlink.org.nz/section10.php

[Lara Croft]

Trains from Welly to Paraparaumu take between 45 and 60 minutes, depending on whether it is the express, and how long it has to wait at the stations etc. It sounds a drag, but when the scenery from the windows is this beautiful you really don't mind!

At rush hour they run regularly, 3-4 an hour, then half hour intervals through the day. Going further north they are more scarce, only one each way daily (I think). However, there is plenty of (free) parking at Paraparaumu station, so a short drive there is easy.

Jane

[spid]

Thanks everyone - a great help.:cheers

[sizzlingbadger]

There's also Featherston and Greytown in the Wairarapa that you could commute from. Featherston is an hour and Greytown just over by train.

Quite a few people have moved over the hill in the last year as Featherston is still affordable. Has 3 schools, excellent kindy and a great community. My OH along with a lot of other people commutes daily from Greytown and finds it quite an easy commute compared to some he's done in the past :nice1

[coyotewildwomen]

We recently moved to Welly from Nelson. One thing we realized was that the commute time and our comfort in living in an area could depend on the twisty very narrow roads, extremely steep driveways in many of the desirable lovely neighborhoods. I don't think I would feel comfortable driving anything bigger than a Mini up some of these roads with cars parked on each side but I have a depth perception problem. You should probably drive around and time how long it will take you. Buses are also supposed to be very good and reliable. We just rented in Mt. Victoria as we wanted to avoid driving when possible. Just something else to consider when looking at the commute!

Wendy

[akoso]

Sorry for hijacking the thread spid, but I just have a quick question (that hopefully you think is related enough).

How expensive are trains for these distances that you guys have mentioned (single trips, monthly passes, etc).

Cheers,
Anthony

[Wonderbob]

Sorry for hijacking the thread spid, but I just have a quick question (that hopefully you think is related enough).

How expensive are trains for these distances that you guys have mentioned (single trips, monthly passes, etc).

Cheers,
Anthony

Can't speak for trains as I live in the city itself and there are only buses that service the city mostly (Welly is very compact), but my bus pass costs me $20 a week (and is a 10 trip ticket) for what is effectively a 20-30 min trip in rush hour, or a 10 min trip in non peak times. A lot of people who live in the city walk to work, go by bike etc. The wonderful thing about Welly is that a car isn't essential and public transport (by NZ stds) is actually pretty good.

[gpbenton]

As a guide, a one way ticket to Ava on the train costs $4. You can look at the metlink web site for other prices.
http://www.metlink.org.nz/story18346.php?

As an alternative, I get a platinum monthly bus pass for $165 which allows me to travel on all buses throughout the region for the month, so I only go by train when its more convenient.

[akoso]

Awesome. Thanks for the replies guys. That's another thing I can confidently toss into the budget for planning purposes.

Anthony

[sizzlingbadger]

From Featherston to Wellington it's $264 for a monthly rail pass.

Also have a look at www.tranzmetro.co.nz/ this gives timetables for the train routes and prices.

[tigerlily]

The city bus pass is $100 a month. You really want it too, because you don't get any transfers when you pay your $2.50 per ride. So if I want to go anywhere other than where that bus is heading it's going to cost me $5. You can also buy a day pass for $5. It quickly adds up to make better sense to get the pass.