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

**octanepwr** · 19th December 2010, 17:40

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** · 19th December 2010, 17:50

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** · 19th December 2010, 18:25

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

**Rhys** · 19th December 2010, 18:42

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

**davebullet** · 19th December 2010, 18:49

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** · 19th December 2010, 18:56

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** · 19th December 2010, 19:11

Originally Posted by FJRider

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** · 19th December 2010, 20:38

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** · 19th December 2010, 20:40

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** · 19th December 2010, 20:45

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.

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

**octanepwr** · 19th December 2010, 22:19

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** · 20th December 2010, 06:47

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** · 20th December 2010, 07:11

Originally Posted by 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).

You are a slow bastard Dave

.

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** · 20th December 2010, 08:13

Originally Posted by 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

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.