Metlink Schedules 2026

Metlink is the public transport network of the Wellington region in New Zealand, and its harbour ferry is the sea leg of that system. The service is run under contract by East by West, whose ferry operations date to 1989 on a Wellington Harbour crossing first sailed in 1893.

Across Wellington Harbour

The ferry links Queens Wharf in the city centre with Days Bay at Eastbourne, calling at Seatoun and, on some sailings, the predator-free scientific reserve of Mātiu/Somes Island in the middle of the harbour — a commuter link and a scenic trip in one.

An electric first

Its vessel Ika Rere (2022) is the Southern Hemisphere's first fully electric passenger ferry, running zero-emission crossings alongside the catamarans Cobar Cat and City Cat. Fares are in New Zealand dollars as part of the integrated Metlink network.

What the timetable shows

The Queens Wharf–Days Bay run is the backbone: 18 sailings each way, city-bound from 06.40 to 19.20 and outbound from 06.10 to 18.50 — a commuter shape, first boat before seven and last before half past seven in the evening. The Mātiu/Somes Island calls are a different thing entirely: five sailings out between 10.00 and 14.30, four back between 12.20 and 16.45. Nothing early, nothing late. The island is a scientific reserve you visit for the day, and the timetable is built for exactly that.

Fifteen minutes out, twenty back

Days Bay to the island is scheduled at 15 minutes; the return at 20. The difference is in the routing rather than the water — worth knowing if you are timing a connection at Days Bay onto the city run.