Best Suburbs for Public Transport

Nothing unites New Zealanders like complaining about public transport, except possibly disagreeing about whose is worse. Wellingtonians believe they have solved it. Aucklanders believe they are about to. Everyone else has made peace with the car.

This list settles precisely none of that, but it does expose the pattern. It is, overwhelmingly, Wellington. Miramar, Island Bay, Tawa, Brooklyn, Khandallah, Hataitai, the Hutt creeping in at the edges. The capital built trains, ferries and a bus network that mostly turns up, and it has never once let the rest of the country forget it.

Auckland appears too, politely, with Grey Lynn, Papatoetoe and the CBD. These are the suburbs where you can leave the car at home, which in Auckland terms is a minor miracle and in Wellington terms is just Tuesday. Light rail, famously, does not appear, on account of not existing yet. Maybe next decade.

A note for the rest of the country: if your town is not on this list, it is not a snub. It is a timetable. Public transport outside the two big cities tends to mean one bus, possibly hourly, definitely not on Sundays. Bring a car, or bring patience. The car is faster.