The Late Late Bus is our current late night service on Friday and Saturday nights. We are assessing the role this service will have in the future and considering whether the time, and routes of this service will change in upcoming years. The bus review concentrates on optimising the network as a first step.
As long as you use a Bee Card, any journey taken on Routes 1-6, urban routes between Nelson and Richmond, will cost $2.10. Less if you have a concession.
Yes, drivers will accept cash for your journey. However, users with a Bee Card pay a lower fare compared to those paying with cash. With a Bee Card you can have concessions loaded (eg. Gold Card), then tag on and off the bus for the zone you have traveled.
Passengers with Super Gold Concessions travel free with Bee card between 9am – 3pm. You will need to obtain a Bee Card with your Super Gold Card loaded, which you can do at Nelson and Tasman Council Customer Service Centres. Once this is done, you won’t be required to show your Super Gold Card when boarding.
Route 4 goes from The Brook, through the Nelson city centre interchange, into Tāhunanui and through to the airport.
Weekend services to Motueka and Wakefield will come in 2026 - subject to funding.
Buses on routes 5 and 6 travel to Richmond before carrying on to Nelson, via the hospital. Instead of stopping at all the bus stops between Richmond and Nelson, they will only stop at the hospital interchange and the city centre hub interchange. In addition, routes 5 and 6 can take Wakatu Drive instead of Main Road Stoke. This means that passengers in Richmond will be able to take the faster express bus to Nelson centre or the Hospital and vice versa.
The airport route is a part of Route 4 which goes from The Brook, through the Nelson city centre interchange into Tāhunanui and then to the airport. Monday to Friday, passengers looking to take the bus from the airport back to Wakefield, Brightwater, Motueka, Mapua and Hope can stay on Route 4 back to the Nelson city centre interchange where they can catch Route 5 which will go directly from Nelson to Motueka, or Route 6 from Nelson to Wakefield. Alternatively, passengers going to Stoke or Richmond can change from the Route 4 bus to the Route 2 bus at the Tāhunanui Interchange.
The new eBus services do not include routes to the Glen or Hira. Council is investigating options for community services to these communities over the coming year.
Eighty percent of our fleet is now electric. Please note, the back-up buses to cater for servicing, overflow, capacity and where buses can’t stay in the Richmond depot overnight will not be electric, so there will still be some low-emission diesel buses operating on the network at times.
Bus services contractor SBL is creating a new bus depot in Richmond, which includes all the charging infrastructure. They have been working with Network Tasman to ensure the network has capacity. It is important to note that the batteries will not be empty at the end of each day and in some situations, a bus may just require a top up.
The fleet will be fitted with Lithium iron phosphate batteries, which offer a longer cycle life than other lithium-ion batteries. These are expected to have a lifecycle of up to 10 years. They come with an eight-year, or 640,000km warranty.
They will either be repurposed as battery storage for a solar panel array on the bus depot in Richmond or used on shorter routes.
As with the current fleet, the new buses will be accessible for wheelchair users.
Absolutely! Each bus will be able to carry two (2) bicycles, as they can currently. If you have an eBike where the battery can be removed please do so to reduce weight on the racks.
You can travel with your pet on weekdays between the hours of 9:00am and 3:00pm, after 6.30pm, and all-day on weekends and public holidays. Pet carriers must be small enough to fit under a seat, or on the passenger’s lap. All dogs must be wearing a cage type muzzle and lead or be travelling in an approved pet carrier. You may be refused entry or asked to leave the bus if your pet is like to or is causing a safety risk or nuisance to other passengers. If this happens you won’t be entitled to a refund.
Yes, there is space for larger bags at the front of the eBuses.
Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:
03 546 0200
enquiry@ncc.govt.nz
Nelson City Council, PO Box 645, Nelson 7040.
Freepost 76919