New LINK buses to waterfront and central suburbs

Date: Sunday 21 August
Place: Auckland's CBD and Inner Suburbs
Time: All Day

A high frequency bus linking Queen St and K'Rd to Wynyard Quarter is one of two new routes that were added to Auckland's popular LINK bus service on 21 August 2011. Please click here for further details on the new LINK services.

  • Auckland Transport and NZ Bus introduced a City LINK running the length of Queen Street every seven to eight minutes, with every second bus going to Wynyard Quarter.
  • An Outer LINK service runs every 15 minutes around suburbs like Pt Chevalier, Mt Albert, St Lukes, Mt Eden, Epsom, Newmarket and Parnell, as well as Auckland and AUT universities and Wellesley St in the city centre.
  • The existing LINK was renamed the Inner LINK and have some of its route changed to make it more direct and more reliable. The new LINK services build upon the success of the current LINK, providing better connections to major commuter and tourist destinations.

New high quality buses, painted red, amber and green, operate on the three LINK services. Meeting Euro 5+ emissions standards, they are 90 per cent cleaner than most of the diesel buses currently operating on Queen St. They are also wheelchair-accessible, air conditioned, and have more seated passenger capacity.

Buses to suburbs like Ponsonby, Herne Bay, Grey Lynn and Pt. Chevalier have also see changes, including services moving from Queen Street to Albert Street to speed up journeys.

The new services and the changes began on Sunday 21 August.

The final routes follow a consultation held in April which received about 1200 submissions. After six months of operation Auckland Transport will review the new services and ask for feedback from passengers.

A campaign to inform passengers about the changes to bus routes in the CBD and Western Bays suburbs began in the lead up to their introduction on 21 August. The changes will be reviewed in approximately six months from this date to assess how well they have worked.

Changes include:

  • The LINK has been renamed the Inner LINK and two changes have been made to its route, travelling via Albert St rather than Queen St, and direct from Ponsonby and Karangahape Rd to Auckland City Hospital and Newmarket via Grafton Bridge
  • Inner LINK does not stop at the Redmond St Stop 7224
  • The City LINK has become the flagship city centre bus. The current City Circuit bus was replaced. For the journey between Britomart and the universities, the Mt Eden Rd b.line now departs from the front of Britomart Station on Queen St
  • The 004 and 006 have become part of the Outer LINK. The 005 continues to run at peak time, over an extended route from Pt Chevalier beach to Britomart, via Albert St
  • The 010 has been extended to provide a connection to Wynyard Quarter from Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Pt Chevalier
  • A new 020 service, using Albert St through the CBD to Britomart, will replaced parts of the 015, 017, 024-028, 034 and 035 services, running every 10 minutes at peak, every 20 minutes during the rest of weekdays and Saturdays and every 30 minutes evenings and Saturdays. It will travels from Westmere via Garnet Rd, along Richmond Rd and from Ponsonby Rd to the CBD via Freemans Bay (Franklin Rd and Wellington Street). A more recent consultation has taken place regarding this service, please click here for details.
  • A new 030, using Vincent and Albert Streets through the CBD to Britomart, replaced parts of the 034, 035 and 045 services. It will travels from Pt Chevalier Rd, and use Great North Rd, then Williamson Ave, Ponsonby Rd to Karangahape Rd.
  • The 042-045 services no longer operates, with journeys provided by the Outer LINK, 005, 010 and 030.

Click here for the map of the bus routes that have changed on 21 August (PDF 1.35MB)

Click here for a report on the consultation