Your Guide To Australia's Transportation System

Australia's academic institutions encourage creativity, innovation and individualism. As an international student, you can expect to live, learn and grow in a vibrant and welcoming country brimming with opportunity. However, for any individual who is new to the country, it is important to understand how its transportation works. Fortunately, Australia's extensive transport system makes traveling easy for you - be it for visiting another city, or just getting around town on weekends.

Travel and transportation

Students have several alternatives to explore the city, whether they live on or off-campus, in a metropolis or a suburb. Since Australia is vast and sparsely inhabited, it has a well-developed transportation system. The transport network fairly covers all remote areas, making it easy to access isolated and local areas. This is an affordable option and students can access it to travel to their campus, residence, shopping and for a variety of site-seeing all over Australia.

Here are some apps and websites to help you navigate these various networks:

1) TripGo

This handy little software helps you plan your travel with real-time information and is an award-winning tool that covers transport networks across Australia. It includes public transportation such as buses, trains, ferries, trams, light rail, as well as taxis, ride-sharing, shuttle services, vehicle routes, cycling routes and walkways. Plan your trip, view schedules, and receive real-time service updates.

2) NextThere

This is the solution if you've ever been trapped at a bus stop wondering when the next bus, train, boat, or tram would arrive. This app covers several major cities all across the globe (including all Australian capital cities as well as rural areas in Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia) and gives real-time information on the next publicly accessible transportation service from your current position.

3) TransitTimes

The TransitTimes app provides students in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney with public transportation timetables, maps, travel planners and service notifications. You may also use the app to check the balance of your electronic smartcard, such as Opal card in NSW, Go card in Queensland, Myki in Victoria or Metrocard in Adelaide and to get directions to local destinations.

If you're looking for more city specific options, here are some apps and guides to help you:

1) Sydney - OPAL

Opal is a contactless fare collecting system for public transportation in Sydney and most other cities around New South Wales, Australia. Opal is a smartcard ticketing system used in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra to pay for public transportation. Before you travel, add money to your account to pay your ticket, or simply link it to your bank account for hassle free automatic top up.

2) Melbourne- Public Transport Victoria

The integrated Department of Transportation develops and runs transportation in a way that is appropriate for the people and goods that travel on it, with an emphasis on the destination instead of the mode of transportation used by students. The app and website both serve as helpful tools to assist with your navigation in Melbourne.

3) Queensland - MyTranslink

MyTransLink is the official Queensland Government public transportation app for Mackay, Cairns, Toowoomba, as well as Townsville in South East Queensland. The app allows you to find stops near you, listen to and receive notifications regarding changed timings, as well as access timetables, allowing you to stay on top of the confusing commutes within the city.

4) Western Australia - TransPerth

This app and website allows students from Perth to access buses, ferries and rail car timetables to allow them to commute from one place to the other. The app comes with a timetable guide and zone map that makes discovering stops near you and the station facilities a much more manageable task.

Last but not least, when it comes to transport and direction, it might be difficult to navigate large campuses. An app to aid with this particular issue is the Lost on Campus app, which shows you everything from lecture halls, classrooms and even cafes.

It can prove to be quite the task to find your footing in a new city as an international student. However, the above-mentioned apps can guide you in finding your footing within the highly networked cities of Australia. Along with these apps, it would be useful to download other apps such as google translate to aid with any potential language difficulties that you might come across. Additionally, most educational institutions and universities come with their own apps and websites that have detailed resources to help navigate the campus and the city you shall be studying in.

Educonnect wishes you safe trips and a successful educational journey in Australia.