E-bikes and public transport in Auckland and beyond

E-bikes already hand you the keys to the city in what is an otherwise unpleasant transport ecosystem in Auckland. Combining with public transport has a long way to go but you have more options than you might think whether for a daily transport or to craft amazing adventures.

This information is based mainly on conventional sized electric bikes. With a Brompton folding bike you can go more or less wherever a human can go. Large cargo bikes will not be able to do all of the things listed below. Auckland Transport has their own overview here. 

This information was written in September 2025. These things evolve in both directions.

Trains

Within Auckland

The Auckland train network is by far the easiest mode of transport to use with your e-bike. Every train has at least one carriages that can take bikes, there's no need to book or pay for your bike and while avoiding peak hour is commendable, it's not mandatory. It is not without its pitfalls:

1. Trackwork. Short of relying on charm/distress, you can't take your bike onto rail replacement buses. As you can count all of our train lines on one hand, it's a long ride to any other train line if yours is down for maintenance, and it often will be on weekends and holidays
2. Access. Some stations have no lift/elevator and many more, including major stations like Newmarket, have a very small lift. If you can stand your bike upright (pop a wheelie) then you can still use these lifts. If you can't, I personally use the escalator. It's really not hard or unsafe, but the station staff don't like that and there's not always an escalator, so next stop is a staircase. 

Regional Trains

Te Huia train from Waikato to Auckland is bike friendly and generally awesome. As it only runs a few times a day, there's a lot at stake if it's too full for you to get on - you might get stranded for the night. It also almost never runs during holidays. The Capital Connection running from Wellington to Palmerston North accepts bike. 

Long Distance Trains

The few remaining passenger trains are 'tourist trains' - spectactular and recommended, but very expensive and running a daily service at most. The Wellington-Auckland, Christchurch-Picton and Christchurch-Greymouth and now some new services from Dunedin all allow very limited numbers (3-4) of pre-booked bikes to travel on board fully assembled. For a time, e-bike batteries were not permitted on, but I believe this has been resolved.

Buses

Within Auckland

Until recently, this was a two letter paragraph. Happily, there's now a trial of bike racks inside every ~third NX1 bus over the harbour bridge, taking bikes up to 1.9m long. Video here. 

Regional public buses

This also used to be a shorter answer. Most bus services outside Auckland have bike racks on the front of buses. This great service included buses to Christchurch Airport, many towns and between towns in the Waikato, including Hamilton to Raglan. The racks are used like this. We highly recommend bringing an additional strap with you so that your rear wheel (and e-bike) doesn't bounce off the rack.

However, an industry alert from NZTA/Waka Kotahi in late 2024 regarding headlights and bike racks suddenly saw every bus operator in the country denying bikes, even during the day. That's starting to resolve itself (Canterbury was first, well done!) but we recommend checking ahead. 

Intercity buses

It is possible to take your e-bike on (most) Intercity Buses covering the entire country. It is far from bike-friendly, please read our article here. 

Ferries

You can take your e-bike on ferries in Auckland other than the DOC destinations (pest free islands) but they are not all equal! The Devonport Ferry is the best - spacious, high frequency, protected from weather and suitable for cargo bikes. The Waiheke Ferry is well known to spray your bike with salt, causing corrosion later on. However, it is rightly very popular with e-bikes including cargo bikes. The Birkenhead Ferry can be challenging to board and alight and also sprays up some salt. 

The Inter Islander Ferry (Picton to Christchurch) takes bikes, as do all of the 'car ferries' dotted around the country. 

Taxis

Unfortunately you can't pay your way out of trouble to fill the gaps. It is not at all straightforward to get a taxi that will move bikes. UberXL isn't really fully functional here, it just brings you a larger sedan. There is no equivalent of the 'maxi taxi' service in Australia and those that are sort of similar like Super Shuttle require your bike to be boxed and travel exclusively to and from the airport. Having said that, we did have a customer convince an Uber Freight to accept his bike stuffed into the back of their hatchback and delivered to our workshop. 

AA e-bike breakdown service

The Automobile Association will pick up its members e-bikes from the side of the road and take you to safety in the event of a breakdown. More info here. 

Airplanes

Lithium batteries above 160Wh (basically all of them) are not allowed on airplanes. I have travelled with my e-bike sans battery on an Air New Zealand service and it goes very much like this short video by Lance. We can send your battery ahead for you.