Whangaparāoa Peninsula - future bus and ferry services

About the project

AT is working to provide great public transport that helps people access employment, education and social, economic and cultural activities. The opening of O Mahurangi Penlink will be an opportunity to provide more efficient, frequent and convenient bus services for many journeys to and from the Whangaparāoa Peninsula.

However, the operating cost of a public transport network that includes both:

• A frequent all-day bus service via O Mahurangi Penlink; and
• The existing all-day Gulf Harbour ferry service

would exceed the available budget.

Whangaparāoa Public Transport Study and the proposed future public transport network

AT commissioned the Whangaparāoa Public Transport Study to understand the peninsula’s public transport needs, and to recommend a future network for when O Mahurangi Penlink opens.

The study considered public feedback, journey to work and education data from the 2023 Census, predicted journey times, accessibility and cost.

AT has adopted the study’s recommended network as the proposed future public transport network for the peninsula. Further investigation and engagement are required to confirm details.

Download the final study report. (Commercially sensitive information has been redacted.)

Proposed future public transport network for the Whangaparāoa Peninsula

The proposed network balances frequency, coverage, resilience, and cost. It leverages the investment that has been made in O Mahurangi Penlink, while recognising the community’s desire to retain a ferry service:

• Gulf Harbour ferry service will run at peak times on weekdays. This will add capacity and resilience when travel demand is highest, and traffic congestion most impacts bus journey times and reliability.

• Three sailings from Gulf Harbour in the morning: two between 7am and 9am, and one after 9am. At least one sailing from Downtown before 9am.
• Three sailings from Downtown and at least one sailing from Gulf Harbour between 4pm and 6pm.
• Frequent bus services – every 7-8 minutes at peak times and every 15 minutes at off-peak times
  • NX2 bus service between a new Whangaparāoa Bus Station, northern busway stations, Wellesley Street and city universities. This is an extension of the existing NX2 service.
  • A new frequent service, the 99, between Gulf Harbour, Army Bay, Manly shops, Coast Plaza, Whangaparāoa Bus Station and Hibiscus Coast Station, via Whangaparāoa Rd.
• Local bus services
  • A new service, the 980, between Manly shops, Coast Plaza, Stanmore Bay, Brightside Road, Whangaparāoa Station, Vipond Road, Red Beach, Silverdale shops and Hibiscus Coast Station. Every 15 minutes at peak times and every 30 minutes at off-peak times.
  • The 988 bus service between Manly shops, Army Bay, Shakespear Regional Park and Gulf Harbour Marina. Every 30 minutes on weekdays.
• The existing 982 and 983 bus services would no longer run – the areas they currently serve would be covered by the new 99 and 980 services.

Download a map of the proposed future public transport network.

Public feedback

Public feedback for the study was collected from 4 November until 1 December 2024 through:

• A public survey.
• A youth survey (for people younger than 25 years old).
• Five public drop-in sessions at Hibiscus Coast Station, Gulf Harbour Ferry Terminal and Coast Whangaparāoa shopping centre.

Participants were shown three possible public transport networks for the peninsula. They were asked which network they preferred, what they liked about it, and how it could be improved. They were also asked which service features and geographic areas were important to them.

2,907 survey responses were received. Feedback showed:

• People wanted to travel by public transport to and from the city centre, followed by other parts of the peninsula, and Silverdale / Ōrewa / Waiwera.
• They wanted public transport journeys to be quick, frequent, reliable and resilient, with as few transfers as possible.
• The fare and mode of public transport (ferry or bus) were less important.
• Most people wanted the Gulf Harbour ferry service to continue. However, they would also welcome a bus service via O Mahurangi Penlink.

While all three networks were feasible options, AT was open to combining features from each when designing the final network.

Two networks included an all-day Gulf Harbour ferry service, while the other network featured an all-day NX2 bus service via O Mahurangi Penlink instead. No network included both the NX2 and the ferry, as the operating cost would exceed the available budget.

Following analysis of the public feedback and the three networks used for engagement, a fourth network was developed – this later became the proposed future public transport network for the peninsula.

See section 7 of the study report and download the public engagement summary for more information.

Key work and education destinations

According to the 2023 Census:

• 56% of journeys to work that started on the peninsula also ended on the peninsula (including work from home), 14% ended in Silverdale, 12% ended in Albany/Rosedale, and 3% ended in the city centre.

Top 10 destinations for journeys to work starting on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, 2023 Census

• 77% of journeys to education that started on the peninsula also ended on the peninsula, 7% in Silverdale, 2% in Albany/Rosedale, and 6% in the city centre.

All destinations for journeys to education starting on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, 2023 Census

While people use public transport for many different purposes, trips to work and education are typically made more often.

See section 5.2 of the study report for more information.

Predicted journey times

The study compared predicted journey times under:

• The existing public transport network.
• The three possible public transport networks used for public engagement.
• The proposed future public transport network.

The proposed future network had the quickest journey times for all journeys, ranging from 28 minutes from Whangaparāoa Library to Silverdale, to 73 minutes from Gulf Harbour to the city centre. In the tables below, yellow shading highlights the quickest time for each journey.

Predicted journey times (in minutes) from Whangaparāoa Library

Predicted journey times (in minutes) from Manly shops (Whangaparāoa Rd / Beach Rd / Rawhiti Rd)

Predicted journey times (in minutes) from Gulf Harbour (Whangaparāoa Rd / Gulf Harbour Dr)

There is an area of the peninsula from which the ferry will always be the fastest option for city centre journeys. However, only 3% of work journeys and 6% of education journeys starting on the peninsula end in the city centre (2023 Census). When the ferry is not running, the 15-minute frequency of the 99 and NX2 bus services will give customers heading to or from the city centre more choice regarding when they travel.

The proposed future network would reduce the area from which it would be faster to drive to the marina and take the ferry to reach the city centre. Only people travelling from east of the Gulf Harbour Drive / Whangaparāoa Road intersection would benefit from driving to the marina, compared with the existing network where people driving from east of Little Manly Beach see time savings.

See section 9.7 of the study report for more information.

Accessibility

Accessibility is measured by the number of jobs and people that could be reached within a range of journey times.

Compared with the existing network and the three possible networks used in public engagement, the proposed future public transport network would provide the best accessibility. For example, under the proposed future network:

• 94,000 jobs and 124,000 people would be within a 60-minute public transport journey from the Whangaparāoa Library.
• 79,000 jobs and 107,000 people would be within a 60-minute public transport journey from the Manly shops.
• 47,000 jobs and 77,000 people would be within a 60-minutes public transport journey from Gulf Harbour (Gulf Harbour Drive / Whangaparāoa Road intersection).

See section 9.4 of the study report for more information.

Cost

The estimated operating cost of the proposed future network ($13.3million per year) is comparable to the existing network ($13.2million per year).

Only running the Gulf Harbour ferry service at peak times on weekdays, and using two vessels instead of three like we do today, enables AT to extend the frequent NX2 bus service via O Mahurangi Penlink all day without significantly increasing overall operating costs.

Next steps

Further investigation and public engagement will be undertaken in 2026 to confirm network details.

The future network won’t be implemented until both O Mahurangi Penlink and Whangaparāoa Bus Station are open.

Let's keep in touch

If you’d like to be kept up to date regarding future public transport on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, please email WPStudy@AT.govt.nz.

We won’t use your email address for any other purpose.