Weekly Review No.132
Inside this edition: Kinetic sets new OuterLink bus into service, Mayor fights for local bus service and the Government confirms $1b in rail funding from Budget 2026.
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Bluebridge’s passenger shuttle bus has a fresh wrap, which was applied by The Big Picture.
For the love of a Marsden Point rail spur, Rail Minister Winston Peters and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown have been penning polite but corrective letters to one another. Peters wrote to Brown last week after the Auckland Mayor publicly disparaged progress over a proposed 19km rail spur to connect the North Auckland rail line with Marsden Point, the home of Northport and Channel Infrastructure’s fuel import terminal.
Any restoration of train services to Middlemarch will not be on a fast track. Upkeep of the Taieri Gorge line past Pukerangi is not a priority at the moment, Dunedin city councillors have been told.
Rail services on all lines in Wellington will be replaced by buses from 30 May to 1 June 2026.
KiwiRail will be undertaking upgrades on the Kapiti Line, including bridge maintenance in the Ngauranga Gorge, seawall strengthening at Mana, and ongoing work on the Tawa substation.
On the Hutt Valley Line, multiple substations will be upgraded, including Naenae, where new overhead lines will be installed.
Upgrades on the Wairarapa Line include signalling & level crossing improvements & final work on the new passing loop at Woodville Station near Greytown.
Auckland’s mayor & transport agency have been blindsided by a letter from Rail Minister Winston Peters announcing 3 new rail stations in southern Auckland will no longer be handed over by the Crown to join the metro network.
The first of the new electric OuterLink buses have arrived at Kinetic’s Wynyard Quarter Depot. The bus is numbered NB6103 and is a Geely C10e. New chargers for this bus and the growing electric fleet at the depot are also being constructed.
Another arrival at Kinetic’s Wynyard Quarter depot is GB8901, which is one of the former AirportLink fleet that operated the service until Ritchies won the contract late in 2025. The future for these buses has not officially been confirmed as of yet.
Rotorua is stuck with its diesel-powered public buses after a funding snag played a part in setting back plans for zero-emission buses by years. After its request for an additional $2.6 million from the NZ Transport Agency was rejected, the council last month decided to extend the current contract by two years.
Advocacy groups have welcomed ACT’s proposal to change rules that currently mean rural school buses drive past children even when they have empty seats, but many say the policy does little for communities where bus services have been cut.
A last-minute parade was held to celebrate Auckland FC winning the A-League. Players were shuttled down Queen Street in a special wrapped open-top bus provided by Explore Group. The bus departed Aotea Square at midday on Sunday, travelling down Queen Street with a large contingent of fans following behind and lining the street before ending at a large crowd formed at Takutai Square a little before 12:15 pm, where speeches were held.
Bold plans to reduce carbon emissions from Auckland’s vehicles and public transport are in line to be made ‘realistic’ after a rare political pushback against council officials
Metlink has confirmed that contactless payment functionality has now been restored across its bus network following a recent software issue with Snapper equipment.
A software update was successfully put in place from 22 May and has been progressively rolling out across all buses this weekend. Any remaining issues passengers experience while paying with contactless methods can be resolved by the bus driver rebooting the equipment on board.
KiwiRail says a brief communications outage was behind Monday morning’s nationwide signal disruption. The issue occurred shortly after 9am, and has since been resolved. KiwiRail said the cause of the fault was being investigated, and apologised for the inconvenience to passengers.
Former KiwiRail DC locomotive 4346, which was exported to Zambia, has derailed. The train had a runaway incident while shunting 11 wagons loaded with coal before derailing and overturning.
The Diamond Harbour Ferry’s Black Pearl ferry will be out of service for annual maintenance over the next two weeks. Black Diamond will operate the regular schedule during this period.
DHF are advising that during the maintenance period, they will have reduced capacity, and are asking passengers to try to travel at non-peak times wherever possible, especially during the upcoming King’s Birthday weekend.
Auckland Transport have shared the date for the 324 changes and 327 launch. From 31 May, 324 Buses will no longer run between Ōtāhuhu Interchange and Seaside Park, and will be replaced by the 327. 324 will remain the same between Ōtāhuhu Interchange and Māngere Town Centre, but now will be extended to The Landing, in the Airport Industrial area. 327 will operate a new timetable bringing improvements to wider network connections at Ōtāhuhu Interchange and Ōtāhuhu Town Centre.
Auckland Transport’s first hybrid electric ferry is here and will be shown off to media and politicians this Wednesday. But the $27.6 million downtown ferry terminal charger required for all-day running on all-electric power is not.
Celebrated essayist David Hill catches a regional bus and learns a few things on the journey.
Work on the charger building on Queens Wharf is progressing with vertical construction starting and some works are occurring on pier 4-5, which is currently closed to the public.
By Harrison McEvoy via Foamerman: Greater Christchurch needs better bus services if it is to flourish. Harrison McEvoy takes a look at the case for better (regional) buses.
Marlborough District Councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday morning to proceed with loaning Port Marlborough $110 million to finance the Waitohi Ferry Redevelopment Project.
Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton says he will continue fighting to retain the ability for spare seats not required by hospital patients to be used by other travellers on the Taumarunui–Hamilton health shuttle, after Te Whatu Ora – Waikato declined to reverse its decision to remove the public transport component of the service.
A former Interislander ferry has been granted permission to sail to India for scrapping, six months after being sold by KiwiRail. The CentrePort schedule shows the Vega is due to arrive in Wellington on 28 May and depart on 31 May.
Rising fuel costs have forced a private bus company to abandon its Rolleston-Christchurch service, despite a surge in passenger numbers, with Environment Canterbury (ECan) stepping in to keep buses running. On Tuesday, Bentley Coachlines confirmed it could not continue providing bus services between the two centres. Owner Liam Bentley blamed fuel costs - which have surged this year due to the war in Iran.
Auckland’s new electric buses for the OuterLink have entered service. NB6103 is the first Geely C10E to operate in OuterLink orange, further buses will come online from Kinetic’s Wynyard Quarter depot as new EV chargers are bought online. As more electric buses are put into service, the older diesel Enviro200 buses will be moved onto school services in the regions.
Auckland Transport officially unveiled its first electric-hybrid ferry, Waitematā 1, on Wednesday morning. NZ Transit Buzz took a ride on board Waitematā 1, the newest low-emission vessel in AT’s fleet.
FEATURE: A look at Auckland’s first hybrid-electric ferry
Auckland Transport officially unveiled its first electric-hybrid ferry, Waitematā 1, on Wednesday morning. Owned by Auckland Transport and operated by Fullers360, the vessel recently completed months of sea trials.Thanks for reading NZ Transit Buzz! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.
Auckland Transport has announced that the platform numbering at Henderson station will change following the King’s Birthday rail closure. The existing platform 2 toward Swanson will become platform 3. The new bay platform will open as Platform 2 later in 2026.
Planned weekend bus routes to Motueka and Wakefield could be on the chopping block as Tasman District Council seeks to reduce its costs.
Auckland Transport has been instructed to review the profitability of its routes in light of the fuel crisis and the Gulf Harbour ferry service is first in line, says mayor Wayne Brown.
Controversial road changes that introduced in-lane bus stops to Pembroke St are to be reviewed. Hamilton City Council’s new Transport Subcommittee has been addressing issues raised in the transport sector as part of an ongoing review of “selected aspects’’ of the transport network where there have been “recurring’’ issues or concerns raised and has now singled out Pembroke St for special attention.
The Government has committed up to $1.075 billion to KiwiRail’s planned network investments between 2027-2030, alongside $106.9 million to continue critical metropolitan rail infrastructure renewals, Rail Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced Thursday.
The historic Ashburton rail footbridge will be closed to the public on June 2 for a major renovation. Work zones around the footbridge will be fenced for the duration of the project, which is expected to take about five months.
The decking on the central truss and sections of the ramps will be removed so repairs can be made to the support piers, including the one that was damaged by a car last year.
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