Getting Around: Public Transport

Living in London definitely stood us in good stead for most public transport systems around the world.  And as much as we liked to complain about the constant delays and unbelievable reasons for these delays, we were in fact rather spoilt.

In Melbourne things run on time.  Well they have so far.  Every bus, tram and train that we've been on has come at the exact minute the timetable promised us.

However, unlike London, the said trains, trams and buses don't run as often as we're used to.  This means you have to plan your route very carefully and if you're doing a multi-legged journey then there might be a little waiting in between legs.

We spent last Saturday house hunting.  We decided against hiring a car for the day as we figured we should get to know the public transport system.  What a mistake.   We left the flat at 8am and got back around 5pm after seeing just four properties.  Advice for anyone in the same boat - HIRE A CAR!!!

Because we don't have mobile data to spare we planned the entire journey meticulously using the TripGo app on the wifi at home.  We didn't even have a map of the area so had to rely on my very detailed hand written directions which turned out to be more than bit sketchy.  We ended up taking 'short cuts' and then running like mad for a bus that we knew would be on time and wouldn't be passing again for another hour.

If we could have, we would have just hailed a taxi but those seem to be rather scarce in the suburbs.  So old preggers here had to do a few really fast waddles around the neighbourhood in the blazing sun, wearing just my trusty Havaianas - again, I repeat HIRE A CAR!

After that little moan I will tell you that the system is actually really great.   The network seems to be large enough to get you close enough to anywhere you want to go and it's also really cheap.   They work with the same system as the Oyster cards in London, only they're called Myki's.   You top up as much as you need and then touch in and out every time you travel.   You can travel for up to two hours on any mode of transport in zone one and it will cost you just the one fare which is $3.50.  There is a daily cap of $7 on weekdays and $3.50 weekends.  Melbourne is only split into two zones so if you're travelling just in zone two then it will be even cheaper.  I believe there are Myki Pass's  which will obviously be cheaper for those travelling to and from work but I don't know enough to tell you about them yet.  You can look here for more info.

The staff have all be really friendly too, they don't seem to be responsible for passengers paying their fares so they're not grumpy so-and-so's like the London drivers.  We had one driver who didn't know which stop we meant when we asked him where to get off so he spent a minute on his phone trying to find out where to drop us - what a sweetie!!

You can see  more about buying and topping up your Myki card here.    It costs just $2 for the card and then you top up whatever amount you want at any 7Eleven or station.