You can take your bike on the ferries and on the trains, which is very handy. Lots of people also drive - and here, you drive on the left side of the road! It took me some time to get used to that, especially when crossing the street. Luckily, for places that are harder to get to with public transportation, I have friends with cars who are willing to go with me!
Even though it often takes longer to get where you're going than if you have a car, I like taking public transportation for lots of reasons. It is better for the environment, especially since a lot of the buses here are electrically powered instead of gas-powered (or petrol-powered, as they would say here!). Some of the buses are even double-deckers, so you can fit lots of people on them, whereas in a car, you can only fit around 4-6 people at a time. Taking public transportation and biking is also cheaper! Just like in Hawaiʻi, gas (petrol!) is very expensive here - it is about NZ$2-3 per liter. Can you figure out how much that would be in US$ per gallon? Also, when riding the bus or the train, I like to read, do work, watch TV, or look at the scenery, which is not safe to do if you are concentrating on driving. Do you all like to bike? I do! It is good exercise and lovely to be out in the fresh air. I also like how you get to see places a bit slower when biking than you do in a vehicle.
