To get around Sydney you have five choices – car, walk, bus, train and ferry. When you are deciding on where to live in Sydney you should think about how convenient the transport will be to the places you will want to go most often.
The best one stop web site for Syndey trip planning is this transport site provided by the Australian government.
Walking
Sydney is a huge city but there are many apartments available to let within walking distance of the main CBD work area. The closer you get to the CBD the more expensive it gets though. Many people walk up to an hour in to work. It’s common to see people in business suits marching in to work in trainers – they’ll change in to formal shoes at the office. Most of the time the weather is decent, although in Summer you’ll have to slap on the sun block, so walking is often an enjoyable and healthy form of transport.
Car
Sydney has a well developed road network. Having a car is almost a necessity if you live in an outer suburb. However it is costly to buy and run compared to other countries. There are road tolls enforced by an electronic card system. You place a detector in your car and it beeps when you pass the toll point and you are then automatically billed. For common journeys such as crossing the harbour bridge the fee is four dollars. You can see examples of journeys, toll fees and times at this government motorway website
You can get a feel for the traffic in sydney by looking at this real time traffic information page.
Bus
Sydney has a wide variety of private and public bus services available including a free shuttle service for transportation round the CBD. Route information can be found at this government bus information site.
Train
The passenger service in Sydney is a metro-suburban railway based around the hub of a central underground with central trains running a fast metro style service and then branching out to a regular suburban commuter network. If you going going relatively short distances in the central network it’s common to see a train come along every five minutes at peak times.
Find out complete train details at the city rail website.
Ferry
A charming feature of Sydney is the ferry service. It’s a fully functioning commuter service with fourteen million individual journeys each year. The distinctive green and off-white boats carry passengers between central sydney wharves and outlying stations such as Taronga Zoo, Mosman Bay, Neutral Bay and Parramatta.
Full details of the service are available at this Sydney Ferries website.
