By bus
Catching a bus is an environmentally-friendly way to travel to campus.
See our sustainable campus maps for our City campus (PDF 0.1MB) and our Woolston campus (PDF 0.1MB) that show the nearest bus stops to our campuses.
Tertiary Student Metrocard
Student fares are now cheaper. Collect your new card from Student Finance in the Rakaia Centre on the Madras Street Campus for savings of at least 40% for Ara students compared to the standard adult fares!
For more information visit metro.co.nz/tertiary.
Christchurch city, Woolston and Manawa campuses
Christchurch's Metro bus system has one of the newest bus fleets, cash and card ticketing, plus a network of high frequency services at peak times - including several that pass our campuses.
You can purchase and top up a Metrocard to use these bus services at your campus enrolments counter or you can pay cash per bus journey.
Find out the best bus route for you at metroinfo.co.nz.
Timaru campus
For information on Timaru's suburban bus service visit Metro Timaru.
Ara operates a free daily bus for students travelling from Ashburton and Oamaru to our Timaru campus (going via Geraldine and Waimate). See the full schedule for more details.