It’s a lovely experience living beside the liquid sapphire expanse of Sydney Harbour, but all those glorious inlets, coves and fancy yacht docks can cause great commuter havoc (when will that hoverboard become a reality?). Sure, there are the fabulous ferries running around Circular Quay and beyond, but they don’t cover ever blue corner of the harbour, and they don’t come a’chugging when you call.
Cue the first public on-demand Sydney ferry service.
Like their bus counterparts, these ferries won’t be set on a timetable, but instead will be bookable from certain locations. The trial route is starting in October and will connect Glebe commuters from Blackwattle Bay Wharf and Fishmarket Wharf to Pirrama Park in Pyrmont and Barangaroo. There are standard ferries docking at some of these stops already, but the on-demand service will reach further and more frequently, cutting out the need for an awkward ferry-bus-walk combo commute.
Photograph: Supplied
To book a scoot through the Bays Precinct, simply download the Tranzer app (these are the guys running the show) and book your route, or head to the wharfs and call a ferry from the kiosk. The sassy new Minicat ferry dubbed Me-Mel (which in Gadigal translates to ‘the eye’ and is also the Indigenous name for Goat Island) can float 60 people across the water on each trip. And it won’t cost you more than your standard ferry ride: $7.60 one way for adults and $3.80 for concessions.
They’ll be testing out this (hopefully) very convenient service for six months starting this month, operating from 7am-10pm Monday to Friday, and 8.30am-7.30pm on the weekends.
Want to travel well beyond the harbour? Follow this map to the best day trips from Sydney.