If you need to get around the centre of one of Australia’s capitals, in many cases you can do so for free. We’ve rounded up all the free city shuttle services we could find and put them an interactive map.
Picture: Terrazzo
It has been a couple of years since Lifehacker last covered these services, and there have been some major changes. In particular, many Sydney services have been axed as a cost-cutting measure. As well as updating our listings, we’ve gone for a map-based approach this time around.
For each service, we’ve listed the basic hours of operation, and included a link to the official site where you can find further details on the routes covered, the frequency of operation and any other special conditions. You can also search for specific city names. Note that Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane all have multiple CBD options, so you may need to zoom in to see all of them.
The operating hours for most of these services tend to fall outside of peak travel hours, though there are exceptions (see Perth, Adelaide and Wollongong, for example). You would have to live very close to the CBD to use these options to travel to work for free every day, but they’re handy options for visitors in city centres.
Know a free option we’ve missed? Tell us in the comments. (Note we’re concentrating on free rather than money-saving options here, so we’re not after stuff like buying weekly tickets after 3pm in Sydney to score an extra day; that’s useful to know for locals, but not our focus right now.)
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7 responses to “Lifehacker Maps: Free Australian CBD Shuttles”
There is a free bus loop service in Canberra called the Centenary Loop. While it’s not a free CBD loop, as Canberra’s CBD can be walked around in about two minutes, this service goes from the center of Canberra to major tourist institutions such as the War Memorial, the National Gallery, the National Library, Old Parliament House, Parliament House, and the National Museum.
http://www.action.act.gov.au/news/news_articles/centenary_loop_route_100
As part of Canberra’s Centenary celebrations, they’re running a free bus loop around some of the main national institutions – only goes until the end of the year though:
http://www.action.act.gov.au/news/news_articles/centenary_loop_route_100
Hobart City Council offer the Hobart Hopper shuttle, unfortunately it only runs on Saturdays which is fine if you are only visiting Hobart for the weekend.
http://www.hobartcity.com.au/Transport/Getting_Around_Hobart/HobartHopper_Shuttle
There’s a free Adelaide loop bus: http://www.adelaidecitycouncil.com/community/your-transport-options/free-connector-bus/
And this one in the CBD too: http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/routes/99C
EDIT: Sorry, second one was hidden on the map. The Tindo bus is worth including though.
Willoughby Council runs a local loop through Artarmon – http://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Community/Traffic—Transport/Artarmon-Loop/
Launceston Tiger Bus operates on week days (and weekends in December). It operates hourly alternating between two different circuits throughout the day.
http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au/lcc/index.php?c=284
Within a certain radius/boundary around the CBD, all Perth busses and trains are free