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Coming to the Santa Parade? Sleigh the traffic on AT’s festive Joy Rides buses Coming to the Santa Parade? Sleigh the traffic on AT’s festive Joy Rides buses

Date: 28 November 2025

On Sunday 30 November the Farmers Santa Parade will bring thrills and delight to thousands of families who line the city streets to watch this Christmas spectacle.

Unfortunately, AT’s public transport services can’t connect to Santa’s route from the North Pole, so to make way for the jolly big man in his red suit and the dozens of floats in the parade, there will be multiple road closures in the city centre from 7:00am.

AT’s GM Public Transport Operations Rachel Cara says public transport is the easiest way to get around during the festive season, including to the Santa Parade.

“We’re expecting up to 150,000 people will head to the city centre to see Santa up close this Sunday, so we’re encouraging people to make the most of AT's frequent buses and trains to navigate the road closures and avoid traffic and parking stress,” Cara says.

“To help people get to and from the city safely we're adding a handful of extra ferries, extra double decker buses for the Northern Express routes, and six-carriage trains on our rail lines.

“We’ll also have extra trains on standby at Waitematā Station to help people get home safely to East, West and South Auckland by train.

“Use the AT Journey Planner or the AT Mobile app to plan your trip ahead of time to the beat the traffic and road closures.”

There will be bus detours and stop closures on the day of the event. Look out for our friendly Auckland Transport team in pink hi-vis, they’ll be on hand to guide you and help with any changes to your public transport journey.

For families travelling to the Farmers Santa Parade, Auckland Transport makes it easy to travel:

  • Children aged 5–15 travel free on weekends with a registered AT HOP card, and children under 5 travel free when with a paying passenger.
  • Adults who don’t have an AT HOP card can pay with a debit card, credit card, Google Pay or Apple Pay on AT’s bus, train and ferry services.
  • Grandparents with a SuperGold concession on their AT HOP card travel for free all day on weekends.
  • You can use the AT Mobile App or Journey Planner on the AT website to find out which bus, train or ferry service will get you to the event.

 

Santa invites Auckland Transport to the party

AT will also be bringing some extra colour and Christmas cheer to the city this festive season with Joy Rides, a selection of AT double decker buses wrapped in vibrant, holiday-themed designs to celebrate the season.

One of these special Christmas-wrapped double-decker bus will be joining Santa, his elves and reindeer in the parade this year to help celebrate the more than 2,600 bus drivers keeping Aucklanders moving on the 65 million bus trips they took in our city this year.

AT’s hard working public transport staff will be walking alongside the bus during the parade, and there will also be some special tamariki riding inside the bus so please give them a wave!

 

City stops changing for popular West Auckland buses as Albert Street reopens

It’s not just Santa coming to town this weekend - buses are also returning to Albert Street this Saturday after many years of road closures for the construction of the City Rail Link tunnels and Te Waihorotiu Station.

From Saturday, Albert Street will once again be open for vehicle traffic as well as a range of AT’s West and Northwestern bus routes. These include the popular WX1, 11T, 11W and 18 bus services which will enter and exit the city centre along the full length of Albert St and will no longer travel on Queen Street and Hobson Street.

Road closures and detours for the Santa Parade on Sunday will temporarily close Albert Street once more, but once Santa has headed back to the North Pole buses will return to their new normal routes.

You can find out more about the bus routes changing when Albert Street reopens on the AT website.