In short
- buses.app now covers 12 New Zealand cities, from Auckland in the north to Dunedin and Queenstown in the south.
- Our timetables list about 480 routes and more than 15,000 stops across the 12 cities.
- Live departures are shown in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; the other cities show scheduled times.
- A separate regional section lists 43 bus lines between towns in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wairarapa, Manawatū–Whanganui and Taranaki.
buses.app now covers New Zealand. For 12 cities you get bus, train and ferry timetables, stops, network maps and regional connections, in English, Greek and German. All timetables come from the official open data of the regional councils and Auckland Transport.
Which New Zealand cities are covered?
The three biggest networks are Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. They are joined by Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin, Palmerston North, Napier and Hastings, Nelson, Rotorua, New Plymouth and Queenstown.
Auckland has by far the largest network in our data: 195 bus routes, three suburban train lines, 17 ferry routes and almost 5,900 stops. Since 13 September 2026 its trains run through the new City Rail Link tunnels under the city centre. Wellington follows with 79 bus routes, eight late-night routes, five train lines and a harbour ferry, and Christchurch with 30 bus routes and the ferry to Diamond Harbour.
Where can I see live departures?
In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch the operators publish real-time data, and buses.app shows it on route and stop pages. In the other nine cities you see the scheduled times from the official timetables. Service changes announced by the operators appear on the status page of each city where they are published.
How do I pay for the bus in New Zealand?
Every region has its own fare system, and they are all changing. A new national system called Motu Move is replacing the local cards region by region. At the time of writing (checked 24 October 2026):
- Auckland: AT HOP card or a contactless bank card, phone or watch on buses, trains and most ferries.
- Wellington: Snapper card, contactless card or cash; Motu Move will replace Snapper in 2027.
- Christchurch: Motu Move is rolling out; Metrocard can no longer be used from 23 November 2026.
- Most other cities: the Bee Card, a prepaid card used in ten regions, including Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Otago, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū–Whanganui, Taranaki and Nelson Tasman.
What does the regional section cover?
The New Zealand regional section lists 43 bus lines run by five regional operators between towns, for example Hamilton to Cambridge, Masterton to Martinborough in the Wairarapa, Tauranga to Katikati and Taupō to Tūrangi. National coaches and long-distance trains do not publish open timetables, so they are not in our data yet; our guide to travelling between cities explains how they work.
How to start
- Open your city from the New Zealand page.
- Find your route under routes, or search for your stop to see which routes call there.
- Before you travel, check how to pay in that region: cards from one region usually do not work in another.
Over the next days we will publish guides to the main New Zealand cities, to the fare cards and to getting to the airports.
