Wellington commuting times? (I'm moving to Welly)

[octanepwr]

Hey all,

Haven't been on kiwibiker for ages but figured it might be a great place to get some advice on this topic.

Im currently living in Auckland and have commuted from out east to Auckland uni for 5 years and am moving to Wellington in the new year to work. Work is on The Terrace. I am a confident and probably too speedy lane splitter :)

Living in an apartment does not suit my lifestyle - I need a garage for my GPZ600, my mountain bikes and my tools, and somewhere to park my 4wd (aint goin to fit in any underground carparks as its lifted) so im interested in how long it will take me to ride in from some outskirting suburbs where the chance of finding a flat with a garage is higher.

How long would it take approx to commute in peak traffic from 1) Johnsonville, 2) Lower Hutt (Korokoro, Petone), 3) Island Bay (Happy Valley road looks like the way to go), 4) Karori (west side), 5) Miramar (waterfront or tunnel?)

Any advice would be great and will surely help me out in deciding where to search for flats. Im thinking near the motorway might be good for commuting by motorbike.

Cheers

[FJRider]

For the few years I lived in Lower Hutt ... commute times seldom varied. No (very few) gridlock issues ... if you take more than 3/4 's of an hour to go from upper Upper Hutt .... it's a bad day. Weather plays a bigger part in time needed than traffic volume. Find a place that you like/afford and go from there ...

Wellington is NOT Auckland ....

[Gubb]

Takes me 15-20 minutes from Newlands to Lyall Bay.

[Rhys]

1) Johnsonville, 10/15 minutes
2) Lower Hutt (Korokoro, Petone) 20 minutes :woohoo:

[davebullet]

About 15-20 minutes from Johnsonville in peak hour traffic. It's only 11kms by distance. I am a slow bastard. (I do split - but slowly).

[spacemonkey]

I don't have the problem of rush hour traffic except at 4 in the afternoons.

Miramar to Petone
5:40am = 17min
1:30pm = 23min

Petone to Miramar

4:15pm = 25-30 min
midnight = 17min

[Ocean1]

Find a place that you like/afford and go from there ...

Wellington is NOT Auckland ....

Good advice. Times are probably going to be less important than the cost / quality of the accomodation. In the same boat I'd go as far as Lower Hutt or Mana.
See if you can get a couple of days set aside for a thorough cruise around to scope out the 'burbs eh?

[Hitcher]

Also remember that Wellington has a vastly superior public transport system to any other city in New Zealand -- particularly Auckland. www.metlink.org.nz

It's a bit sad and shaky at the moment and will be even better from Christmas when the new trains start to appear in service, and wait for real-time information mid 2011.

[Milts]

I live in karori, in peak traffic it's never more than about 15 or 20 minutes. On the weekends/outside of peak hours it's less than ten minutes by bike or car into the city centre.

Karori has the added benefit of local supermarkets, restaurants, bars, and a generally 'safe' feel - I would have no qualms walking home from town alone at 3 am, except for the fact that there's a fucking great hill in the way. I don't know how many could say te same of the hutt. The Makara Hill is also just at the back of Karori...

Depending on prices, Brooklyn, Northland and Hataitai would absolutely be worth a look. All of these are just as close or closer than any of the places you listed, and when I was flat hunting prices weren't too bad (particularly in Hataitai). Make sure you check out the place first though, some areas of Wellingon are very damp in winter, and there are some road you don't want to commute on if it's frosty.

[superman]

Man I wish I didn't live in Auckland. Uni to home - 30mins at midnight (hooning it). Home to uni, peak hour. 2.5 hours (at worst) usually still 1.5 hours minimum. FML.

Haven't done it on bike yet so we'll see how it goes. At least there are a hundred different ways to Uni from my house. :facepalm:

Probably wouldn't take motorway to uni if I'm on my bike anyway. :innocent:

[octanepwr]

Thanks guys. Yeah I was used to 30-40mins commute from howick to uni in rush hour (to non-bikers this is about an hour+) so 15-20mins sounds like nothing to an Aucklander :)

Yes id def want to get down and have a good look around the place before picking, but not sure if im going to make it down before i start (25th jan).
May have to take up the company offer of two weeks free accomodation in an apartment (cant complain really :) ) and then search for a place and move from Auckland in one weekend (ugh rush). I have heard prices tend to go up in Feb though due to uni students moving in, people like me starting grad jobs etc

Yeah public transport would be handy if I didnt want to ride when it was pissing down, I have even seen a place available in Horokiwi but thats not going to have public transport as an option :P

Another thing I have just thought about - what is motorbike parking like at the airport?

Cheers

[Str8 Jacket]

I live in Lower Hutt and work in Waring Taylor St (city). It takes me between 15-20mins to get to work depending on traffic and the time I leave....

[Hawkeye]

About 15-20 minutes from Johnsonville in peak hour traffic. It's only 11kms by distance. I am a slow bastard. (I do split - but slowly).

You are a slow bastard Dave :msn-wink:.

Used to be a 17-20min ride in from Tawa daily. Now a 30-35mins from Whitby at a safe splitting pace. Normally have a good clear run all the way to Churton Park before the traffic slows and builds (NB: cop's love the stretch between Porirua and Churton in the mornings).
The only time it takes longer than that is when a cop is sitting in the traffic. (I'm alway's very wary of splitting past a cop).

From what I've figured out from reading on here (It's on KB so it must be true), we don't have the same amount of issues with lane changers as Auckland does.
I'm not saying it doesn't happen but it certainly doesn't appear to be as big an issue here. The number of cages changing lanes without warning is not extreme and as long as you keep your wits about you, you can normally pre-empt them.

As there are basically 2 roads into Welly from the North, both 2 lane highway's, everyone is heading in the same direction and not trying to cross lanes to get off at the various junctions. Once you hit the interchange at the bottom of the gorge where they merge into 3 lanes, again apart from the initial merging traffic, most cagers tend to move into their preferred lane and stay there. This makes splitting on the Welly motorway, especially between the middle and right lanes, reasonably ok.

Add to that, most bikes tend to split at the same pace so the cages get used to a convoy of bikes going past them.

Good luck with the move!

[cheshirecat]

Thanks guys. Yeah I was used to 30-40mins commute from howick to uni in rush hour (to non-bikers this is about an hour+) so 15-20mins sounds like nothing to an Aucklander :)

Yes id def want to get down and have a good look around the place before picking, but not sure if im going to make it down before i start (25th jan).
May have to take up the company offer of two weeks free accomodation in an apartment (cant complain really :) ) and then search for a place and move from Auckland in one weekend (ugh rush). I have heard prices tend to go up in Feb though due to uni students moving in, people like me starting grad jobs etc

Yeah public transport would be handy if I didnt want to ride when it was pissing down, I have even seen a place available in Horokiwi but thats not going to have public transport as an option :P

Another thing I have just thought about - what is motorbike parking like at the airport?

Cheers

I've parked in the undercover part the airport for nothing. Just don't park in car bays. Tend to put a cover on it and tell the boys in the paycabin - give them a few beers occaisionally.

[davebullet]

You are a slow bastard Dave :msn-wink:.

Oh - forgot to mention - that time includes being pulled over by police officers (plural).

[davebullet]

I've parked in the undercover part the airport for nothing. Just don't park in car bays. Tend to put a cover on it and tell the boys in the paycabin - give them a few beers occaisionally.

Where do you put your motorcycle gear? Are there lockers or something? I've considered doing this to save the company money when traveling to AKL.

[cheshirecat]

Where do you put your motorcycle gear? Are there lockers or something? I've considered doing this to save the company money when traveling to AKL.

I've taken my gear with me but the paybooth folks might be open to storing yor stuff for a few beers.
Haven't done this for a year mind you but have seen bikes parked there since. There are some good places under the ramps sheltered from the southerly and where the bike can be chained

[simpy1]

I'd pick Island Bay or Karori. Probably Island Bay - it'd be a 10 min ride into the city, plus Island Bay has the beautiful South Coast, it's flat (so gets sun), and has a supermarket and the best butcher in Wellington.

[NighthawkNZ]

Couple of hours from Auckland...

oh wait.... :innocent:

[spajohn]

We live in Ngaio which I find great for ease of access out of Wellington for 4x4 trips etc, and it only takes 15-20 minutes into town in my cage, less on a bike, or there are regular trains within short walking distance (500m from where I live).

Given your mountain biking the suggestion of Karori for the Makera mountain bike park may be of interest to you.

The problem I would see with the Island Bay etc area's is crossing town for weekend activities, but hey, it's Wellington and nothing really takes too long.

[Hitcher]

Don't move to Karori. It's a shithole. It has the same population as New Plymouth but only one road in or out (not counting the back road to Johnsonville via Makara and the School of Equitation). This makes communting at peak times an almost Auckland experience. The climate there is "special", particularly in winter time. Wainuiomata has more going for it, particularly All Blacks.

[davebullet]

Johnsonville has multiple access points even multiple rear end access, but is a wind hole.

[White trash]

Silverstream FTW

[spacemonkey]

Don't move to Karori. It's a shithole. It has the same population as New Plymouth but only one road in or out (not counting the back road to Johnsonville via Makara and the School of Equitation). This makes communting at peak times an almost Auckland experience. The climate there is "special", particularly in winter time. Wainuiomata has more going for it, particularly All Blacks.

How ever as he's a mountain biker..... Karori is a very excellent place to be for that.

[Tunahunter]

[QUOTE=octanepwr;1129936395]Hey all,

How long would it take approx to commute in peak traffic from 1) Johnsonville, 2) Lower Hutt (Korokoro, Petone), 3) Island Bay (Happy Valley road looks like the way to go), 4) Karori (west side), 5) Miramar (waterfront or tunnel?)

If you want to start work at around 7am to 7.15 the the trip from Island Bay is about 8-9 mins in a good day (ie get 80 % of the lights green). A bad day is about 15 mins. I go thru the Terrace Tunnel and get up to a good speeeeeed before tracking back thru the off-ramp to Tinakori - then Bowen and onto the Terrace. Free parking on the Terrace is a snitch at that time