Public transport in Aus/NZ
 

Need some tips and guidance on public transport usage in Aus/NZ locations. I am also considering usage of uber/lyft and would appreciate feedback on following:

Queenstown/ZQN
- hotel has daily shuttle to center of town, will use this mainly for back and forth.
- i might need to arrange bus or taxi for trip to wanaka , what is the best option for this, yello or some other form of taxi. I have to reach the location by 9am for skydiving. what are the other options for 3 people and to prearrange it.

Melbourne
-i will be staying at hilton south wharf, and planning to get the myki card for 2/3 days travel within the city.
- there is also free tram within the city. but i am not sure whether this is still running as i read some conflicting messages whether it is operated in december

Sydney
- i will be staying at shretaon on the park, will be using ferry, train and bus for most of the sightseeing purposes.
-get the bus from St James Station, Elizabeth St, Sydney (Stop 200045) from their i can take train or ferry based on the destination
-better to buy the opal card

hows the availability of uber, i might use that as much as possible.

what are the best options for airport transportation for Melbourne and Sydney?

Where do you to go with the Myki ticket? https://ptv.vic.gov.au/getting-around/

The city circle tram will be running. https://ptv.vic.gov.au/route/view/1112
http://www.yarratrams.com.au/
http://www.metrotrains.com.au/

From MEL airport Skybus and general MEL information http://melbourneairport.com.au/to-fr.../overview.html
From SYD airport there is a train (and shuttle & taxi) http://www.sydneyairport.com.au/go.aspx

On arrival into Sydney you should be able to get and load your Opal card at WH Smith in T1. Depending on how much luggage you have (I have no problems with a 69cm Cosmolite), you can then start your visit to Sydney with a small saving by eliminating the airport station access fee by catching the route 400 bus from the public bus stop outside the terminal to Mascot railway station (alight at Coward St at Laycock St, Mascot Stop 2020113 - fare $2.10) and catching a train into St James from there.

Similarly at Melbourne, if you can get a Myki at International arrivals, the 901 bus from the bus interchange near T4 to Broadmeadows and then a train into the city is cheaper than the Skybus.

On the free Melbourne tram: this program is only a few months old which is why you may be getting mixed messages on it. Trams are now free within the CBD grid and Docklands.

There is also the City Circle tram which has been free for many years, but no longer has so much value now that all CBD trams are free.

The free tram zone doesn't extend as far as the Hilton South Wharf, you'll need to cross the river. There's signs around advertising the precise extent of the zone.

Of course if you're going outside the rather limited free tram zone you'll need a myki anyway, and if you make two trips more than two hours apart you'll already have maxed out the daily Myki spend, so the freeness of the tram may not be particularly worth worrying about.

Personally I'd look at getting a rental car in ZQN, taking public transport you'll miss about 80% of the scenery. The best bits are most of the time just off the main route, or stopping in the middle of nowhere, we're a bus isn't going to stop.

Have an look at the likes of Apex and Juicy rentals, you should be able to get an car for around $40NZD/Day. And if there is three of you, its going to be much cheaper than taxi's/ public transport.

Bare in mind taxis in New Zealand aren't cheap, you can spend $100 on an 30km journey.

What are you planning todo in the town itself in Queenstown? there isn't much to see in the town. You need to get out of the town, and head down the road to places to like Glenorchy to see the most.

With Queenstown-Wanaka you'll miss out on the crown range, if you we're take an bus.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...7b2d51145e.jpg

For Melbourne I'd definitely recommend Skybus. They take you to Southern Cross Station, where you can transfer for free shuttle to your hotel, Total cost I think about $24 each. (Might have gone up since then)

Trains from Sydney Airport to CBD are frequent and from memory costs about $20. Journey takes about 15 mins. Taking the 400 bus to Mascot instead then getting the train there will save you money but cost you time, personally I wouldn't do it, especially with luggage.

The Skybus in Melbourne is your best option; 18 AUD each way. You can take the free hotel shuttle from there to the Hilton. It is a bit painful to take the hotel shuttle (long wait at times, and if you share with many other passengers you could be riding around for awhile). You can walk outside and grab a taxi if you aren't worried about paying a bit extra for a quicker journey.

The free tram zone is excellent, but you would be well advised to get a myki even with a small balance in case you want to go outside the CBD to suburbs like Fitzroy or St. Kilda which are well worth a look. The system does allow you to take a journey with any myki balance (it will go negative if your balance can't cover the total), so you could load a myki with $5 credit and get a round-trip out of it if you wanted to. (you end up with a myki balance of around -$2 which covers the extra cost of buying the myki).

public transport in New Zealand
 

1st, the title of your query is profoundly misleading......Uber, taxis, Apex, Jucy etc. are not public transport.

As you have already discerned, public transport in Melbourne & Sydney is excellent. Better than comparable sized American (& perhaps Cdn.) cities!

New Zealand is another story. Public transport is available, but is very weak. I relied on public transport in Dunedin, for example, and spent more time waiting than riding.

Queenstown receives large # of int'l visitors and does have public transport buses and a 7-day visitor card:

http://www.connectabus.com/

InterCity bus in NZ?
 

Anybody have experience with taking the InterCity bus in New Zealand? I'm going to be in Auckland for a few days before heading to Australia in late May and I booked a $1 each way fare to Paihia (Bay of Islands). I didn't want to rent a car because I'm traveling solo and am way out of practice driving on the other side of the road plus I worry about doing that while jet lagged!
https://www.intercity.co.nz/

I've only used the intercity bus once to get from Nelson to Greymouth to catch the Tranzalpine train back to Chch about this time a year ago.

Bus was clean, kept to the published timetable, driver pointed out a few points of interest along the way. Not my preferred way to get places, but nothing wrong with it. Bus I was on had no onboard toilet, but had stops every couple of hours.

Akl to Paihia is around 4 hours by bus I would guess, so probably just a meal/toilet break about halfway along the journey.

Cool - thanks for the info. From your description, it sounds a lot like Bolt Bus here in the U.S. I'm not expecting anything fancy - your experience of clean and on time is reassuring. Thank you :)

Your experience will be markedly better than any bus experience in the US. Buses and drivers are clean, polite, and want to share their knowledge and hospitality Already mentioned that there will be stops and points of interest pointed out

It's a few years ago, but our favorite NZ intercity bus experience was Franz Josef to Queenstown on Christmas eve. Two people who had purchased tickets were not on the bus. The driver asked the passengers if they minded if he did a loop around town. .franz josef is not very big to see if we could find the passengers since the would not be a bus for the next few days. In short order he found the passengers who needless to say we're very appreciative.

Enjoy the ride