Wellington commuters increasingly on foot and bikes, but cars still top – Media release

10 March 2015

Wellington city dwellers are more likely to walk, jog, or cycle to work than take public transport, but cars are still number one, according to new Statistics New Zealand research.

Commuting patterns in Wellington shows that on census day (5 March 2013), 21,912 people living in Wellington city walked, jogged, or cycled to work. A further 17,706 took public transport, and 44,070 went by car.

Researcher Rosemary Goodyear says car use in the Wellington region dropped 4.6 percent – to 64.6 percent – in the 12 years since the 2001 Census.

“Car transport is still the main way people commute in Wellington, but it has decreased slightly,” Dr Goodyear said.

“The number of people walking, jogging, or cycling has increased by over half. Wellington’s pretty unique in New Zealand, with its high concentration of workers in the central business district. The area around Lambton Quay has over 43,000 people working in it, which means it’s got the greatest employment density in the country.

“We also see that nearly 1 in 3 people who live in the city centre take public transport, compared with 1 in 6 across the whole region.”

The research shows that as at March 2013, Wellington was the third-largest region in terms of workplace addresses. With 220,434 people giving a workplace address in Wellington, the region was behind Canterbury at 255,480, and Auckland at 596,313.

Not everyone who works in Wellington lives in the region – 1,848 came from Auckland on census day, and 1,683 from the Manawatu-Wanganui region, which borders Wellington.

In 2013, New Zealand had 2,001,006 employed people – up from 1,985,775 in 2006.

The census gives information about where people live and where people work. Local and central governments use this information for transport planning.

For more information about commuting, see Commuting patterns in greater Christchurch and Commuting patterns in Auckland.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Commuting patterns in Wellington – report

ends

© Scoop Media