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In over 20 years of travelling on my own, I have never seen a more messed up scheme of mass transit pricing than Sydney’s. There are so many options and exclusions, that it is barely comprehnsible. After over an hour online, this is what I have figured out:

• They want visitors to buy a SydneyPass, which is the “one and done” ticket. Airport, special buses, ferries, whatever. Of course, for a week it costs A$110 (!!!);
• For other passes, they have a surcharge for entering or exiting at an airport station, but nowhere online will they tell you what the exact surcharge is.  But since the one-way train fare from the airport to downtown is A$14, I’m guessing A$10;
• A basic train ticket is about A$3 for a medium distances such as downtown to Bondi;
• A round trip ferry to Manly costs A$10.40;
• A day pass (CitiHopper) for just the train around the big 11 downtown stations costs A$7.70;
• A day pass (DayTripper) for trains, buses, and ferries costs A$15.40;
• A weekly pass (TravelPass) for trains, busses, and ferries costs A$33 (Red) if you don’t plan on going to Manly, and A$41 (Green) if you do;
• For those who like hop-on/hop-off buses, they have Explorer buses for downtown and for Bondi, at A$38/day but that includes other buses (but not trains/ferries) for that day;
• There is a package deal for the Blue Mountains (Blue Mountains ExplorerLink), with round-trip train and an Explorer bus once you get there, for A$42.20.  This is a good deal, especially compared to the Sydney and Bondi Explorers; and
• All the prices are going up sometime before the end of 2007…

My plan is to get the TravelPass for the first four day stretch and make sure I hit Bondi and Manly then. Then for the second stretch, I’ll probably do the Blue Mountains on Monday, then stay on foot or use the CitiHopper for Tue/Wed as I do the trip close up, last minute shopping, etc. in the city center.

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