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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Guide to Sydney by Tina Hammond BUS TICKETS The BUSTRIPPER ticket is valid on all Sydney buses for one day only and costs $7.30. A TRAVEL TEN bus ticket offers bus rides at roughly half price to buying a single every time you wish to travel. Having no time limit, this versatile ticket is valid only when you have completed ten rides. If you do not travel on a particular route regularly, it is probably advisable to buy the lower denomination (for example) Blue ticket, rather than the higher Red, as you can use two blue trips to make up one red one by simply validating it twice. However, there is no refund if you use your red ticket on a blue trip! Red costs twice as much as Blue. There are many colours available, grey, red, blue, green, pink, orange etc., each one offering a different zone or number of zones. The SYDNEY EXPLORER and BONDI AND BAY EXPLORER are one-day tickets which cost $20 each ($15 for children and $45 for a family of 2 adults and children). You may only use your ticket on the bus of your choice (Bondi & Bay Explorer or Sydney Explorer). You can, however, get a combined two-day Bondi & Bay I Sydney Explorer for $35, ($25 children and $70 family), and these may be used on either bus, on both days. COMBINED TICKETS The SYDNEY PASS (which includes transport to and from the airport on the Airport Express), costs $60, and is valid three days. Single bus tickets from the airport to the city centre are so cheap though (between $3 and $6, depending upon how great a bulk you buy them in), it seems silly to waste the expensive and versatile ticket on such meagre trips as that. However, if your time is limited to three days / two nights, you may as well take advantage of the 'free' return trip! The Sydney Pass encompasses all forms of transport available (except the Monorail - but that is a totally different story!), including the highly effective JetCat, RiverCat, the Explorer Bus, all Sydney Buses and Ferries, and Cityrail trains (between Bondi Junction and Chatswood). The DAYPASS covers all travel on Sydney buses and Sydney ferries, and costs $12. The DAYOVER is the same as a Daypass, but includes train travel as well. This is the only day ticket valid on the entire train network and it costs $20 a day. FERRY TICKETS Ordinary Circular Quay returns are as follows: Manly $7.60, $10.40 on the JetCat; Parramatta $9.20 on the RiverCat. A single on the Manly JetCat is $4.80, the ferry (NOT the RiverCat) to Parramatta $4.20, and the Inner Harbour only $2.80: there are literally dozens of ferries running from Circular Quay to destinations in the Inner Harbour. Ferries run from Circular Quay to Taronga Park Zoo, on the north of the Harbour. You may buy a Zoo Pass for $18, and this includes a trip on the cablecar (or bus) up to the Zoo entrance, as well as admission to the Park.The Aquarium Pass is valid from Circular Quay to the National Aquarium (well worth a visit) at Darling Harbour and, again, includes the admission fee. The Ocean Pass runs from Circular Quay to Ocean World at Manly and including admission to Ocean World AND the Manly Art Gallery costs $17. All of the above three tickets are discounted by 50% for children. Like the buses, you may also buy a Ferry Ten Ticket. From Circular Quay to Manly the cost is $24.60 (against a normal price per single unit of $3.60), and to Darling Harbour $16.40 (normal single $2.80). TRAIN TICKETS Although having a fantastic route network, daily tickets are almost non-existent (see COMBINED TICKETS above). There is a day ticket which is valid on the City Loop (from Redfern, and as far as Bondi Junction), but nothing which encompasses the whole network in a day, other than the Dayover. WEEKLY NETWORK tickets are available and, like the buses, are colour coded (same colours, different prices and zones). For example, the Parramatta to City Ticket costs $30 per week, and is good value, as it includes the ferry to Darling Harbour (a must for sightseers, although I do not like it), and the RiverCats and JetCats, themselves fast and reasonably expensive. Ordinary single and return tickets are cheap enough: before 9am (peak time) is marginally more expensive. Examples of fares from Central Station (peak and off-peak): to Circular Quay $1.60 / $1.40: to Bondi Junction $2.00 / $1.80: to North Sydney $2.00 / $1.80: to Parramatta $2.80/ $2.60. MONORAIL TICKETS An incredibly
expensive eyesore which has plagued Sydney for the last eight years. It
is privately owned and so fares are not interchangeable with any of the
above. Lack of use has forced the owners to drop the prices from in excess
of $3 per ride to $2.50, and also to introduce a daily ticket, cost $7.
Be warned though - the monorail only visits seven different stops! The
main aim of it was to go to Darling Harbour, and that is really all it
does. Try it once for the experience, and then forget about it. Sydneysiders
want it down by 2000! First published in issue 24 (spring 1997), since when prices have almost certainly changed - but hopefully the basics may still apply! |