Auckland Airport to city by bus & train

[Mattg]

I visited Auckland last week and found a pretty convenient (and very cheap) way to get into the city.

The AirportLink bus runs every 10 minutes past the domestic and international terminals, then goes directly to Puhinui train station (around 15 minutes away). You can then take a direct train to Britomart, with trains running frequently.

Puhinui station has been recently refurbished and is a pleasant place to change between the train/bus.



The trip took an hour and cost $1.76 with an AT Hop card. The normal price is double that (which is still cheap) but the NZ government is giving 50% off public transport fares until the end of January 2023.

To get to the bus stop from the international terminal, turn left after leaving arrivals.



On the way back to the airport, the bus from Puhinui station leaves from stop A.

 

[serfty]

Puhinui station has been recently refurbished and is a pleasant place to change between the train/bus.

Certainly a step up with the revamped station- I did the trip a few times pre covid ... I must dig up my At-Hop card ...

 

[Bundy Bear]

Aucklands New City Rail loop is set to open at the end of 2024 so this new bus connection could be very useful in the future.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Note at hop cards are being phased out in 2025 approx and switching to using credit/debit cards (nationally) for commuter transport.

 

[Mattg]

Note at hop cards are being phased out in 2025 approx and switching to using credit/debit cards (nationally) for commuter transport.

That'll make things even more convenient

 

[Sprucegoose]

Aucklands New City Rail loop is set to open at the end of 2024 so this new bus connection could be very useful in the future.

BB no NZ Gov/Council project has ever finished on time, being kind i would hazard a completion date of late 2025?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Note at hop cards are being phased out in 2025 approx and switching to using credit/debit cards (nationally) for commuter transport.

Thanks for the tip.
Didn't realise this was happening.
Still have my at hop card, so might have to get a refund, or if not, just return the card on one of my future sojours there sooner or later.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

BB no NZ Gov/Council project has ever finished on time, being kind i would hazard a completion date of late 2025?

OffT they have only turned the sod on the new hotel site at AKL airport.OnT
No vision of any cranes or anything on the new Accor hotels that's supposed to go there.
I can't see the train getting to AKL airport by 2025 if they haven't even digging a train tunnel starting now!
There is no digging on theupper end of Queen St ERL either in Auckland city centre.
The works are still at Wellesley St.

 

[Quickstatus]

What are the operating hours?
A flight like QF149 arrives after midnight

 

[serfty]

What are the operating hours?
A flight like QF149 arrives after midnight

Seems no service 00:40-04:30

Public transport

Get to the airport by booking a taxi, shuttle or catching a bus

www.aucklandairport.co.nz

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Supershuttle is NZD$30.
Pricey.
Check if Skydrive operated past midnight.
Uber does operate in AKL.
Taxi is about $80 for budget an, $90 for normal.
The Novotel is very pricey.
Edit: Skydrive is up to 22.30 10.30pm only!

 

[Mattg]

What are the operating hours?
A flight like QF149 arrives after midnight

Yeah, this doesn't work for QF149 or the other midnight arrivals

Something that I factor in now when choosing a flight time. If it's $20 cheaper to take QF149 over QF143 (for example), it's still a net saving to take the earlier flight now that my grandmother is too old to drive to the airport to pick me up.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Even if you miss out on the 50% discount for AT Hop, you can still get a 10% discount for using Hop during non peak hours.
Up until Mar 2023, you can get to pay 45% if you travel into the city offpeak, assuming you already have a Hop card, they are $10 to buy, and up to Mar, you pay a max fare of $10 on all metro buses and trains, and some ferries.
Then its 100% fares peak times, 90% off peak after Mar.
After Mar, the max daily fare goes back up to $20 for all metro buses, all metro trains and most ferries around Auckland.
Sat for Auckland is offpeak, where for most or parts of Aust, Sat still peak.
As there are no train direct to Auckland airport (as yet), there is no airport Hop surcharge, as Skydrive is not accepting Hop.

 

[Sprucegoose]

No vision of any cranes or anything on the new Accor hotels that's supposed to go there.
I can't see the train getting to AKL airport by 2025 if they haven't even digging a train tunnel starting now!

Agreed.

You cannot effectively accelerate major infrastructure- if you miss the start and don’t have realistic schedule and risk provisions, you’ll become laughingstock (Snowy 2.0 as an example).

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

OffT if they can't or won't start on the hotel OnT, I think they have no hope of bringing the train from Puhinui to AKL airport anytime soon.
From looking at the water around AKL airport, it seems that that area is very muddy, and if they want to do an underground rail, it would take a very long time with a lot of prep work, which they don't seem to be doing much, visually.
Even the CRL does not seem to have any visual tunnelling, and no vigrations either.
Looks like its very slow going.
Back to topical thread, if you have a Hop card, and you know you can recharge online, do that.
But when you tap the card onto the 38 bus, the credit might or might not be immediately downloaded to the card.
I recharged on line a few weeks back, they give a 8 week grace period from recharging online to having a need to tap the card onto the bus or train station reader, so the money was debited from my Aust bank account, and it didn't show up on the Hop account online, I knew this, so left it like that.
10am, tapped the Hop card on at Britomart, it still showed the basic balance, so I topped up $30 with an Aust card, all good, balance went up, thought where was my other $30 (?), the one I did online.
Left it at that, but later that day, when I tapped onto a bus, the balance rose to $72.50, so its a slow process all around for things over there.
Its a nice place, NZ, but things move at their own pace.
OffT, arrivals hall at AKL airport, now more modern, esp baggage reclaim carousels, but the wavy line to the spot where they take your incoming pax card is still being majorly worked on, slowly.OnT.
Edit, looks like they are closing the Auckland train lines longer than 16 Jan, ...
Cut and paste:

Please note upcoming rail closures across our network:​

• Holiday maintenance period: 26 December 2022 to 15 January 2023
• Rail Network Rebuild stage 1: 16 January 2023 to 19 March 2023
• Planned rail closures for regular maintenance and works on weekends and public holidays.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

The current maintenance affects all train lines simultaneously. The network rebuild will only affect portions of one line at any given time. As there are two lines from south Auckland to cbd this won't affect most visitors heading to the airport from cbd or vv.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Kicking this thread back to life..

Is the bus to Puhinui then train into the City still the only AKL option? I am in no hurry whatsoever upon arrival so happy to take a leisurely path.

The Auckland Transport Website suggests the best is to get an AT Hop card from the vending machine in the domestic terminal, is this still the case?

They need to move onto Credit Card tap payments!

 

[SeatBackForward]

Kicking this thread back to life..

Is the bus to Puhinui then train into the City still the only AKL option? I am in no hurry whatsoever upon arrival so happy to take a leisurely path.

The Auckland Transport Website suggests the best is to get an AT Hop card from the vending machine in the domestic terminal, is this still the case?

They need to move onto Credit Card tap payments!

Replying to myself, I see AKL DOM and AKL Intl are not convenient, as per @AustraliaPoochie post here the Deli might be the way to go!

 

[esquire]

Did this in mid January - based on my experience I wouldn’t recommend it unless you love random inconvenience and life in the really slow lane.

Time from leaving the Domestic Terminal (with the slowest bus trip to the international pick up stop) to arriving at Britomart, almost 1.5 hours - that includes a 35 minute wait for a train .. (missing the first train by 5 seconds as a bus load of passengers comes down the escalators, the train departs). Time ? - the middle of a weekday … wasn’t able to try it in reverse as track works had replacement buses on the weekend.

 

[Mattg]

Did this in mid January - based on my experience I wouldn’t recommend it unless you love random inconvenience and life in the really slow lane.

Time from leaving the Domestic Terminal (with the slowest bus trip to the international pick up stop) to arriving at Britomart, almost 1.5 hours - that includes a 35 minute wait for a train .. (missing the first train by 5 seconds as a bus load of passengers comes down the escalators, the train departs). Time ? - the middle of a weekday … wasn’t able to try it in reverse as track works had replacement buses on the weekend.

It's unusual to wait 35 minutes for a train from Puhinui to Britomart - I think you got unlucky

You can buy a AT HOP card and load some money onto it at a couple of the airport newsagents. It's pretty easy.