NZ driver work time rules for tour and shuttle operators: a plain-English guide

By the DayRunner team · 19 October 2026

If you carry paying passengers in New Zealand, your drivers are covered by the work time rules, even in a van that only needs a class 1 licence. In short: a 30-minute break after 5½ hours of work time, no more than 13 hours of work in a work day followed by at least 10 hours' continuous rest, and no more than 70 hours before a continuous 24-hour break. Most drivers also have to keep an approved logbook.

This is a plain-English summary of NZ Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) guidance, checked in October 2026. It isn't legal advice. Check the sources at the end before you rely on it.

Who the rules apply to

The NZTA work time and logbooks factsheet says the rules apply to drivers and operators of any vehicle that:

• needs a class 2, 3, 4 or 5 licence, or
• is driven in a transport service (other than a rental service), or
• must, or ought to, be run under a transport service licence, or
• carries goods for hire or reward.

A tour or shuttle with paying passengers is a transport service, so the rules cover your Hiace driver as much as your coach driver. Rental is excluded, so a customer driving their own hire campervan isn't covered.

What counts as work time

Work time is all time spent working, driving or not. The factsheet lists driving, loading and unloading, cleaning and maintaining vehicles, admin, and any other paid job, even one outside transport.

For tour operators that means guiding counts. So does washing the van before the first pickup, and an evening shift at a second job.

Rest time is time that isn't work, lasts at least 30 minutes, and isn't spent in a moving work vehicle. A rest break has to be uninterrupted. No refuelling, paperwork or taking bookings during it.

The four limits

A cumulative work day starts after at least 10 hours' continuous rest and can't be longer than 24 hours. It isn't the calendar day. A driver who starts at 2pm and finishes at 1am has worked one work day, and the next one can't start until they've had 10 hours off.

The 70 hours is the cumulative work period, counted between 24-hour breaks.

Small passenger services

There's one exception for small passenger service vehicles, which carry 12 people or fewer including the driver. The NZTA guide for small passenger service drivers says they can do 7 hours of continuous work time before a rest, but only if every fare in that time was a short fare, under 100 km from pickup to drop-off. Do a longer fare, or drive another vehicle covered by the rules that day, and it's back to 5½ hours.

Most day tours run well past 100 km, so plan for 5½ hours.

Multi-day tours

Tour bus operators can apply to NZTA for a variation if a tour runs on a set schedule and route and takes more than 24 hours. Drivers on a variation still keep a logbook. Apply before you need it.

Logbooks

A logbook is needed for the same vehicles the work time rules cover, except that for goods it's heavy vehicles only. Some services are exempt, such as school buses, but most tour and shuttle drivers keep one.

The factsheet says the driver must:

• use an NZTA-approved logbook, printed or an approved electronic logbook
• record their name, the date, each vehicle's registration, and the start and finish times and places of all work and rest breaks
• record days off on the first day back
• keep completed logbooks for 12 months after the last entry
• show the logbook to an enforcement officer on request

An employed driver hands the employer copy of each page to the employer at the end of each cumulative work period, or within 14 days, whichever comes first. The employer keeps copies of logbook records for at least 12 months.

What it costs to get wrong

The factsheet lists fines of up to $2,000 per breach for a driver, plus a licence disqualification of at least a month. An employer held responsible for a breach can be fined up to $25,000. That's the chain of responsibility. Logbook infringement fees run from $150 to $500, with demerit points.

Those figures are from the October 2017 factsheet, so check current amounts with NZTA.

Build it into planning

Most breaches start on the planning sheet, not the road. A driver who finished at 9pm can't legally start a 6:45 run with 15 minutes' prep. A Milford day with a pickup run and a clean-down can pass 13 hours.

DayRunner checks this when it plans tomorrow. It counts each driver's work time including prep and guiding, allows for a 30-minute break after 5½ hours, and flags anyone over 13 hours, short of 10 hours' rest since yesterday, or past 70 hours in their work log. It uses 5½ hours for everyone, the stricter option. It doesn't replace your logbook. Our shuttle operators page shows how it plans pickups and runs.

Sources

• NZTA, Work-time and logbook requirements
• NZTA, Factsheet 02: Work time and logbooks (October 2017)
• NZTA, Work time and logbooks for small passenger service drivers (October 2019)
• NZTA, Land Transport Rule: Work Time and Logbooks 2007

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