By Bus in Christchurch & Canterbury

By Bus

Christchurch's city bus system may look confusing because it is run by more than one company, but luckily it has a thorough Web site and a helpful hotline. Tickets cost $2.50 a trip and can be used for one transfer fare if traveling on another bus within a two-hour period. The easiest place to catch a bus is the Bus Exchange, as most buses go through it. Major bus routes have electronically enabled bus stops that indicate how long the bus is away from the stop.

Yellow buses (and some specially signed red buses) are free shuttles, running circuits every 10 minutes during the day through the city center, linking the Casino with Moorhouse Avenue. Look for marked bus stops. There are yet more bus lines, such as the Metrostar and Orbiter, that don't come into the city center at all, but instead link shopping centers and other suburban facilities.

The Red Bus line offers MetroPasses, or pre-paid travel cards; $1.90 will get you 2 hours of unlimited travel, $3.80 gives unlimited travel for a day and $19 gives unlimited travel for a week. Red Bus also runs the Midnight Express, a bus that follows four set routes on the hour from midnight to 4 AM on Friday and Saturday night.

The Christchurch Best Attractions bus service provides transport (and this can be combined with the entry fees) for several attractions: Willowbank, the Gondola, and the Antarctic Centre for $5 per attraction. Tickets can be booked at the Information Centre; the bus stop is opposite the main entrance to the visitor bureau.

Contacts

Christchurch Best Attractions (0800/484-485. www.chchattractions.co.nz). Christchurch Metro Services (03/366-8855. www.metroinfo.org.nz). Red Bus (0800/733-287. www.redbus.co.nz).

Bus Depot

Bus Exchange (237-239 Lichfield St.).