10.3 Public Transport
Description
This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales with numerous contributions by others.
10.3 Public Transport
* Melbourne
Public transport isn't great. If you work in the city and live near a
train, tram or bus line, it is OK for commuting. You will probably
want a car for shopping etc. The central suburbs of Melbourne
(including most of the above) are serviced by trams. These are a
cheap and effective way of getting to work. Trains also service the
entire metropolitan area, "but" the lines radiate into the central
city.
* Sydney [BJ]
By Australian standards the public transport in Sydney is excellent.
By international standards, it's probably pretty average.
By far the largest people mover is the electric train system. A quite
extensive network of lines criss-crosses the City and outlying areas,
with approximately 290 railway stations (10 underground) and 1700
kilometres of tracks. The system only goes underground in the CBD and
Eastern Suburbs. Nearly one million passenger trips are made each
day. The only areas not served by trains are the Northern
Beaches/Peninsula (although plans are being considered to remedy this)
and the Northwest.
The trains are generally frequent (2-10 min at peak times), on time,
clean and fast. If you live near a train station it is certainly the
easiest way to go to the city. Driving into the city is actively
discouraged with extremely high parking fees, up to A$40 per day.
Trains are moderately effective for going from suburb to suburb. A
variety of single/return trip, periodical and regional tickets are
available.
The train system used to run 24 hours a day until 1988, when 1-4 am
services were replaced by buses (ostensibly as a safety measure, but
really a cost- cutting one). The State Government runs a fast and
frequent bus service in areas without trains, or as connecting
services to train stations. Timetables are usually coordinated. Some
services run 24 hours a day. Again, many types of tickets are
available. For infrequent travellers, the "TravelTen" ticket (a
no-expiry-date ten trip card) is the best value. In the outer
suburbs, the only bus services are privately run and fairly expensive.
Most people will drive their car to a railway station and park in the
commuter car parks instead.
Probably the most pleasant way imaginable to travel to work is by
ferry. Harbourside suburbs are well served with regular State
Government run ferries and connecting bus routes. The Manly ferry
trip is internationally known. New services have been recently
introduced to serve suburbs further up the harbour with high speed
catamaran type ferries ('JetCats'). JetCats also run to Manly.
Finally, Sydney has a 4 kilometre, 7 station Monorail loop running
between Darling Harbour and the City. The majority of users are
tourists, with the rest commuters, mostly using it as a shuttle
between their company sponsored parking spaces at Darling Harbour and
the City.
A railway line to the airport is under construction also.
[TT] Getting around in Sydney if there for at least a week is easy
with the colour-coded TravelPass. There are various prices, depending
on the area you want to cover (and sometimes whether you want buses
or trains) but I always find that the Green travelPass covers
just about everything a tourist would want to see. It is valid for a
week, starting the day you buy it and costs about A$25 and covers
all trains, buses and ferries in the area bounded by Chatswood,
Lidcombe, Pittwater, Epping, Kogarah (including all Eastern Suburbs).
Does not include Manly Hydrofoil or Airport express bus or monorail
but just about everything else. Really convenient, too.
* Brisbane [SW]
Queensland Rail has a fast efficient suburban train system. Services
generally run from 5am till midnight with half hourly services during
non peak periods that go to 10-15 minutes apart during peak. There
are 7 main 'lines', 4 to the north and 3 to the south/southwest. At
least 90% of the suburban trains are air-conditioned electric trains.
There are still a few diesel hauled. Basically all trains travel
through the three inner city stations covering Fortitude Valley,
Central (Central Downtown) and Roma Street (Northern Downtown).
Trains are usually on time. Safety on the trains during daylight
hours is almost guaranteed. Even at night it's pretty good (I've
never felt threatened) but there are security guards roaming the
trains randomly at night).
Brisbane City Council also operates a pretty good bus service.
Train/Bus connections can get you almost anywhere.
* [Other contributions? AN]
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