Melbourne public transport system for travellers

Melbourne has an extensive network of public transport making private vehicle travel unnecessary for most trips around the city and regional Victoria.  Pricing has been included in this article for indicative purposes only. Prices can and will change over time so take this into consideration.

Melbourne’s public transport system, known as Metlink, comprises of trams, trains and buses: trams service the central city and inner suburbs, trains service the suburbs, and buses where there are no tram or train tracks. A single ticket (called a “Metcard”) allows travel on all three modes of transport.

The “Met Shop” in the Melbourne Town Hall, on the corner of Swanston St and Little Collins St provides timetables and brochures, and sells tickets, maps and travel merchandise (open 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday, 9am-1pm Saturday). The Metlink Information Centre, ph 131638 (131MET), every day 7am-9pm, provides information and the Metlink websitealso provides information including maps, fares and zones and all timetables. Metcards are also available from: many retail businesses (especially 7-Eleven stores)

Train Stations- less than one-quarter of Melbourne’s suburban train stations are staffed. At unstaffed stations, Metcard vending machines are provided. All ticket machines accept coins and will issue a maximum of $10.00 in change. Most stations will also have at least 1 machine that will take notes but little-used railway stations may have just coin-only machines.

Trams- all trams have a coin-only ticket machine that issues a limited range of tickets (up to a day-ticket). Metcards are divided into “Zones”, with Zone 1 covering the central city and inner suburbs (and consequently almost the entire tram network) and Zone 2 covering the middle suburbs and some outer suburbs. Until recently Zone 3 covered the remaining outer suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula however this has now been incorporated into a 2-zone system. Almost all tickets are time-based; that is, they can be used for the given period of time within the specified zone(s) from the first time you use it. The following are the most useful tickets (and some indicative costs) for travellers (fares as at 3/06/2007)

Two-hour (adult Zone 1 $3.30) daily (adult Zone 1 $6.30) weekly (adult Zone 1 $27.60) Sunday Saver (travel across all zones, all day Sunday; $2.50 but the ticket is not available at automatic ticket machines) City Saver (a single trip within the CBD only; adult $2.40) Concession Metcards are available for all children aged under fifteen years, but concessions for older students are only available to Victorian residents who are eligible and have paid for a student concession card. Concessions are also available to holders of Victorian Seniors Cards, Victorian Health Care Cards, and Australian Pensioner Concession Cards. A concession Metcard costs roughly half the price of an adult Metcard. Children under 4 years old travel free.

Before each journey, and sometimes to gain access to the station platforms, a metcard must be “validated” by inserting it into a validation machine. On trams, the metcard must be validated after boarding the tram; however, tickets purchased on the tram (from the machine) are already validated. Note that a two-hour metcard that is validated for the first time at 6:01pm (18:01) or later is valid for the rest of the night, so if you’re heading out after 6pm for an evening’s entertainment, don’t buy or validate a day ticket. Note that you will not be allowed to leave a station with fare gates if you did not validate your ticket before you first got on the train.

Ticket inspections are rare during peak hour for obvious reasons, but more common during the middle of the day. You’ll find that Flinders Street station and the adjacent tram stops almost always have a large population of inspectors floating around who’ll swoop on you as soon as you make a move to exit the station – especially if you appear to be young or are carrying a concession ticket. If you are caught using a concession ticket without a concession card, you will be fined. The ticket barriers have a light on the top which flashes if you are using a concession ticket. It has now been written into law that your ticket can be inspected even after you have left your train, tram or bus. Fines start at $158 and can be as high as $500.

Services generally operate between 6:00am and midnight Monday to Saturday, and after 8:00am Sunday morning. After midnight on Saturday and Sunday mornings only there are NightRider buses which run defined routes to the suburbs. Metcards are now valid on Nightrider services, but you should keep in mind that daily and 2-hourly Metcards expire at 3:00am – if you’re boarding a bus after this time, you’ll need to buy or validate a new ticket. If you board a bus scheduled to depart before the expiry time on your ticket, it will be considered valid for your entire journey, even if you don’t alight until after it expires.

Although Melbourne is a reasonably safe city, crime can and does occur on public transport. If you’re waiting at a station at night, it would be wise to stand in the designated ‘safety area’. These areas are well lit and provide easy access to the emergency intercom.

You’ll find that the trains have intercoms as well, but be warned: if you move to the next carriage to send a message to the driver, everyone onboard will be able to hear it.

The free City Circletrams run around the CBD perimeter, covering Flinders St, Spring St, Nicholson St, Victoria St, La Trobe St and Harbour Esplanade. They run in both directions every 12 minutes every day except Good Friday and Christmas Day from 10am-6pm, and until 9pm Thursday-Saturday during daylight savings. Several of the trams on this service are equipped with recorded commentary about attractions passed. They are geared to visitors and are a great introduction to central Melbourne.

The free Melbourne City Tourist Shuttlebus service stops at key tourist destinations in and around the city. The buses run at 15 minute intervals between 10am and 4pm every day. A complete circuit takes 45 minutes, and there is onboard commentary.

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