Sydney Public Transport
Public Transport or Car Hire?
Sydney is well served by its public transport. Buses are often the best way to travel if your final destination is on route. Trains are also excellent although in recent years some services appear to have declined in reliability. A ride on a Ferry offers the most relaxing (subject to the weather) form of transportation if not the most direct or fastest available.
Not all shared transport is Public Transport
There are a small number of private bus and rail services that you may have to negotiate during your travels. Although they only cover a relatively small part of the network, you may need to be prepared to pay more for that portion of your journey.
Public Transport (Opal) or Car Hire?
You can still access most of Sydney by car provided you don’t want to stop :). Seriously you can drive but be prepared for road tolls and expensive parking. Public transport potentially quicker and certainly cheaper.
Opal
Opal is just a travel card but its a very handy little thing getting you onto trains, buses, ferries and light rail. An Opal will take you to all the city sights and as far afield as the Blue Mountains and Newcastle. Why Opal? Unfortunately not because the streets are paved with it. It just very Australian with 90% of the world’s Opals coming from here.
Opal or Car Hire
Transport Information – 131500
The magical numbers of 131500 have all the answers to your transportation needs and questions. A dorky way to remember the magic number is 5 * Sydney100.
1. Remember that the first three add up to 5 i.e. 1 +3 + 1 = 5
2. Plus 5 times (Sydney)100 = 500
3. There’s the number 131500! – Or you could write it down, look it up on Google or Bookmark this page. 🙂
Transport Information Line
Metropolitan Trains
CityRail operate will beyond the city. CityRail even stretches to Newcastle 200ks north of Sydney. A trip to Newcastle is well worth doing by-the-way particularly if you can get a cheap ticket. Trains run 20 hours a day only stopping for a rest during the early hours of the morning.
CountryLink Trains
CountryLink trains generally go a little faster and unsurprisingly further. It is certainly one way to get to Melbourne and Brisbane but why do you want to do such a thing? 
CountryLink trains run from Central Railway Station near the centre of town.
Kingsford Smith Airport
Sydney has a relatively new train link to Kingsford Smith Airport and the train usually beats taxis on cost, if not time if you are travelling on your own or maybe just two of you. The catch is of course is how far is your destination from a train station.
Light rail
Light Rail consists of trams which trundle around Central Station, Chinatown and Darling Harbour 24/7.
Sightseeing Bus
The official Sightseeing Bus, the one you can get off and on whenever you like (provided it has stopped) also operates out of Central Station. So in theory, you could catch a train from numerous places in NSW, jump on the Sightseeing Bus, see the sights and then go home. Mind you, that’s a lot travelling, why not just stay in Sydney.
Ferries
Probably the top destinations people catch a ferry to are Darling Harbour, Manly, Watsons Bay, Rose Bay, Balmain and Taronga Zoo. Parramatta would be to if the boat could get there a bit quicker. All the boats run out of Circular Quay with the Opera House on one side and Sydney Harbour Bridge on the other. What a way to travel!
Taxi Cabs
If you need a cab you can ring for one but if it is a Saturday night or it is raining you might have to wait, and wait, and wait. If you are trying to hail a cab a couple of suggestions if we may, don’t stand in the road and don’t yell and find somewhere where the cab can actually stop safely. If at all possible, use a taxi rank.
Tickets and Passes
Like every other major city Sydney has travel passes that save you money and time. You can select multiple forms of transport whilst using the same ticket. In this case, it is all about the destination rather than the journey.
Destination – Got there, now what?
A little planning can go a mighty long way, use the top 100 things to do list to identity where you would like to go, or, if you already know where you would like to go, what to do when you get there.
Top 100 things to do
Festivals and Events
One of the lovely things about Sydney is that there is always, always, even on Good Fridays, something going on. We keep track of the best stuff under the pages linked below. One of the most wonderful things to see is people faces when the Vivid Festival is on and people get off the ferry at Circular Quay with mouths agape. It is a wonderful surprise when that sort of thing happens but to make the most of it it is better to know beforehand.
Refer to the menu above for Top Events and Festivals to catch public transport to.
Got to move on…
If this desire to catch public transport is more of a deep seated feeling that the time is near to get out of here then – don’t, stay in Sydney. Yet, despite our well thought out, persuasive reasoning (that was the ‘don’t, stay in Sydney’ reasoning) you still want to go, ok, we give up, just head north.
Stops North
Things to do close to Sydney
Thinking about it, you might be able to catch public transport to do some of these things close by.
Things to do close by
More information on Public Transport
For more information on sharing things on wheels, rails and water that we call ‘Public Transport’ just follow the link below to the official boring but informative words of the City Council.