Date: 14 October 2026
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says it’s good to see Aucklanders making the most of the CRL and the investment that’s gone into it.
“The whole point of the CRL is simple. Move more people around Auckland, faster and more efficiently, it’s a fantastic result,” says Mayor Brown.
“Two million trips is a good sign Aucklanders are using it for what it was designed to do. The challenge now is to get the maximum benefit from this significant investment, support the city’s grown and make it quicker and easier for people to get where they need to go.
“When transport works well, Auckland works well. It’s good see the new stations are already changing the way people move around the city.”
Week four of the new rail network saw a provisional total of 520,688 trips on trains, making it the second busiest week on record. The week was boosted by thousands travelling to and from the sold-out All Blacks match at Eden Park and a significant increase in off-peak travel by children during the second week of school holidays.
Child concession data shows off-peak weekday trips increasing 268% compared with school term weeks. By comparison, the equivalent increase during the 2025 school holidays was 96%.
It's clear that people are using the network for far more than just their morning commute," says Transport and Infrastructure Committee Chair, Councillor Andrew Baker.
"We've made a significant investment in Auckland's transport network, and I hope Aucklanders continue to make the most of it. We're heading into a busy summer period and it's now much easier to get into the city for shopping, dining, events and everything else Auckland has to offer. With Diwali and the Santa Parade coming up, there are plenty of reasons to jump on a train and see it for yourself.”
Waitematā remains the busiest station on the network, while key transport hubs including Panmure (+42%), New Lynn (+47%) Sylvia Park (+56%) and Newmarket (+17%) have also recorded strong growth, highlighting the benefits of a more connected network.
Whether it's avoiding traffic, saving money, or simply enjoying a better-connected network, it’s great to see more Aucklanders are discovering the benefits of public transport which is exactly what we hoped to achieve," says Mark Lambert Auckland Transport General Manager Rail Services.
Mr Lambert is encouraging people to keep providing feedback on the new network via customer service staff on the ground or Auckland Transport's customer contact centre.
“It’s still very early days and we are continually looking for ways to improve. We’ve already made some adjustments to signage in the new stations and on our AT mobile app to help people navigate easier and our focus will soon turn to gradually increasing train frequencies further.”
The City Rail Link was launched with an initial temporary timetable with plans to build up to a full timetable once the new network has been bedded in.
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