Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Anyone buy a Sydney city pass?

Like many other world cities, I noticed while googling around tonight Sydney also has a city pass product that includes unlimited local transportation, harbour cruises and even the airport link. This is the product I found:

http://www.sydneypass.info/

And for a week, AUD$150 looks like a fairly good deal. But I also noticed, no admission to sights is included, only transportation options. So, does anyone have any first-hand experience with this type of product and care to share?

I've always just bought a weekly pass whenever I've been there. They seem to pay for themselves after about 3-4 days, and they can start on any day of the week. I used the yellow variety which covers most of the tourist areas and is $A44 for a week. About the only thing it doesn't cover is the fast ferry to Manley (does cover the slow one). There's other varieties to choose from, too.

http://www.cityrail.nsw.gov.au/fares/travelpass.jsp

Like many other world cities, I noticed while googling around tonight Sydney also has a city pass product that includes unlimited local transportation, harbour cruises and even the airport link. This is the product I found:

http://www.sydneypass.info/

And for a week, AUD$150 looks like a fairly good deal. But I also noticed, no admission to sights is included, only transportation options. So, does anyone have any first-hand experience with this type of product and care to share?

I bought the deluxe transportation pass, less the tour buses. A 7 day pass, including rt airport train, and all the Syndey ferries, trains, buses, etc. It cost about $A65. If I had to do it again, I'd buy a cheaper pass in only the red and green zones. I got everything up to the purple, and just didn't travel out that far.

I like the ferries the best, very relaxing, especially at night.

I think I bought the deluxe transportation pass too, the "Green" one. I highly recommend it, the week pass is worth it even only if you're there for three days or so.

I like the ferries the best, very relaxing, especially at night.

I rode the ferries around just for the heck of it at night after dinner. Manly Beach is a good half hour ride one way, very relaxing.

It looks like the yellow allows rail up to Parramatta, which is why I got that one (nice ferry ride up there, and then rail back).

I think I bought the deluxe transportation pass too, the "Green" one. I highly recommend it, the week pass is worth it even only if you're there for three days or so.



I rode the ferries around just for the heck of it at night after dinner. Manly Beach is a good half hour ride one way, very relaxing.

I did the exact same thing. Took the 7pm Manly shuttle, and then came back at about 10pm. Watched the Youths play cricket in front of the Burger King, er Hungry Jacks, which was entertaining in itself. I almost understand the game now. :)

Okay, a quick point of order - travelpasses (coded by colour) are mainly intended for commuter use, but can be worthwhile for tourists, who know where they wish to go to.

SydneyPass is meant for tourists, and covers things that a commuter would not be interested in, such as Sydney Explorer, Bondi & Bay Explorer, harbour cruises and so on.

The two products are totally different, and cannot really be compared.

If you know where you want to go, and where you will be staying, give some details, and us locals can advise. But without specifics about where you want to go, where you want to see, whether or not you are prepared to catch a couple of (regular) buses to get from point A to point B (rather than a dedicated tourist bus which will get you there directly) it is all conjecture (despite what has already been posted).

Dave

Okay, a quick point of order - travelpasses (coded by colour) are mainly intended for commuter use, but can be worthwhile for tourists, who know where they wish to go to.

SydneyPass is meant for tourists, and covers things that a commuter would not be interested in, such as Sydney Explorer, Bondi & Bay Explorer, harbour cruises and so on.

The two products are totally different, and cannot really be compared.

If you know where you want to go, and where you will be staying, give some details, and us locals can advise. But without specifics about where you want to go, where you want to see, whether or not you are prepared to catch a couple of (regular) buses to get from point A to point B (rather than a dedicated tourist bus which will get you there directly) it is all conjecture (despite what has already been posted).

Dave

Well, Dave, I am a tourist making my first trip to SYD so I'm still doing the required guidebook reading about what to see. Most of the sights, like Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the Rocks, are within walking distance of the Sydney Habour Marriott I will be staying at for the first part of the stay, the rest at the sister property, the Sydney Marriott. Other sights I'm interested in seeing would be Taronga Zoo and the beaches like Bondi, Manly, Darling Harbour, Kings Cross and Chinatown areas.

Maybe the local transportation would be better to get a little more sense of the city than sticking with the uber-touristy things. Thanks to the feedback here, sounds like the public transportation passes a better value for what I'm wanting to do. I appreciate the input. :)

Add my preference for a regular Transportation Pass... As a Yank who visits Sydney often, either alone or with some or all of my family... And even though we always have a car available for each stay, we always purchase a Green TravelPass, which covers almost everywhere we wish to travel to...

According to the Sydney transportation website:
]"Gives you unlimited travel on CityRail services in the area bounded by Bondi Junction, Kogarah, Kingsgrove, Regents Park, Bankstown (via Lidcombe or Sydenham), Epping, Chatswood and Olympic Park. Plus unlimited travel on Sydney Buses in the red and green area - zones 1 to 8 (except north of Narrabeen lagoon) and unlimited travel on all Sydney Ferries, excluding Manly JetCats and premium services."[/B]

Public transportation is important if you plan to attend certain functions which have parking issues. I'll be in Sydney for 2 weeks during Easter and will use public transportation to attend the Royal Sydney Easter Show, one day of The Great Escape rock music festival (at Newington Armory near Sydney Olympic Park), a Rugby Match on Good Friday between the Sydney Roosters and Brisbane Broncos and also a performance of the "Gathering" at the Sydney Opera House (the Australian Ballet with Bangarra Dance Theatre)... I also plan to attend an AFL match between the Sydney Swans and Melbourne at the Sydney Cricket Grounds on 23 April. Using public transportation to these events is a necessity!

Like many other world cities, I noticed while googling around tonight Sydney also has a city pass product that includes unlimited local transportation, harbour cruises and even the airport link. This is the product I found:

http://www.sydneypass.info/

And for a week, AUD$150 looks like a fairly good deal. But I also noticed, no admission to sights is included, only transportation options. So, does anyone have any first-hand experience with this type of product and care to share?

A couple of months ago, Conde Nast Traveller had an article about various city passes. Some it said were a good deal while others are downright lousy. I don't recall if the Sydney passes were covered or not, but check it out.

We bought a 3-day SydneyPass. What a bargain. Included bus from airport to city, took every ferry multiple times; in-fact got my best picture of the Opera house from the ferry returning from Taranga Zoo. If I recall correctly the pass also provided a discount to the Zoo. Pass included the two sightseeing buses, one around the city and the other out towards Bondi.

Yes, purchase the Sydney Pass.

SAS

Go Red Sox.

Like many other world cities, I noticed while googling around tonight Sydney also has a city pass product that includes unlimited local transportation, harbour cruises and even the airport link. This is the product I found:

http://www.sydneypass.info/

And for a week, AUD$150 looks like a fairly good deal. But I also noticed, no admission to sights is included, only transportation options. So, does anyone have any first-hand experience with this type of product and care to share?

I tried the sydneypass the first time I took my wife (2000) and we found it to be okay value, but on our subsequent trips(2002 + 2004) we've always just bought the weekly commuter passes to get around Sydney as we knew how to get around better. As this is your first trip to SYD you might find the sydneypass better as well. You can take advantage of both the Sydney Explorer and Bondi Explorer buses which we enjoyed and found it helped us get our bearings. The harbour cruises are nice but basic, the discounts were usually in the 10 to 15% range and it allows access to pretty well all the transit you will need(harbour ferries, buses and inner city rail).

Curiously, the Sydneypass, which includes a transfer to and from the airport, does not appear to be available at the airport :confused: ?
Can someone tell me how to get one at 6AM when I get in?

Thanks

You can get it at either of the airport railway stations.

Dave

You can get it at either of the airport railway stations.
Dave


In addition to the SydneyPass you can also get Weekly TravelPasses at the stations. You can check prices here... http://www.airportlink.com.au/touristtransfer.html

A random bit of information: The passes are NOT good for the extra fee charged to enter or leave the airport stations, you have to pay that separately at the airport stations.

There is a one week airport station access pass that costs LESS than two entrances and/or exits to these stations. If you are going to be in Sydney for a week or less and plan to use public transit to and from the airport, consider buying this pass as well. They sell it at the stations but you have to ask; there is absolutely no mention of its existence as far as I can tell, as it's mainly intended for airport employees -- but anyone can buy it.

Thought I'd add to this thread to thank those who responded with info earlier and encourage others looking at SYD to buy a transit pass as they proved a great value. The staff at the kiosk at Circular Quay very informative and helpful and I settled on the Yellow Pass as it met my travel needs. When I asked how much a OW ferry Circular Quay to Manly was, it was IIRC 6 AUD so spending 40 AUD for a whole week a tremendous value. ^