Public Transport

Trains and trams are the primary forms of public transport in Melbourne. You’ll need a “Myki” transport card to pay for your public transport. You can buy these from your closest 7-Eleven. There are no single/paper tickets.

In Melbourne, you’ll hear the terms “Touch on” and “Touch off”, this means when you get on the tram, train or bus, you’ll need to swipe your card on the Myki reader either on the platform or in the tram/bus. When you get off, you generally need to “Touch off” to get the cheapest fare. To help you plan your routes, you can download the PTV (Public Transport Victoria) app or use Google Maps (within which, there is a public transport option).

Once you’ve purchased a Myki card, you can register it on the PTV (Public Transport Victoria) site and also setup auto top-ups to be effected when your Myki balance reaches a predefined threshold.

If you’re standing at a train/bus/tram stop the app initially told you to go to, but you missed the train/tram/bus and you refresh the app, it will tell you to go somewhere else - At this point, STOP - don’t go anywhere. In most places another train/tram/bus will be along in a few minutes and you can use this! Do what the app tells you and you’ll end up walking between stops endlessly.

Trams

Trams operate close to the city and run throughout the day. Inside the Melbourne CBD exists a “free tram zone”; trips entirely within this zone are free. You only need to Touch On if your journey is headed outside this zone.

Just because you catch a tram on the road you want to be on, don’t assume it will remain on that road. Trams turn, and you may end up somewhere completely different. In the PTV app, there are transport maps. Look at the trams map and take the tram number that will take you where you want to go (any no other trams number).

Trains

Trains are generally the fastest way to travel between suburbs or towns. They radiate outward from the city centre. So, if you catch the wrong train line you’ll probably need to backtrack to one of the stations in the city and look for the right line.

I refer to a line here which indicates where the train in going. Again, in the PTV app, take a look at the trains transport map and you can see that each line terminates somewhere, example Pakenham, so that would be referred to as the Pakenham train or line.

Most of the time, the train will stop along all of the stations on that line (unless is says express - will get to that in a bit).

So, if you’re at Southern Cross Station (the closest train station to the office) and want to go to South Yarra station, you could take the Pakenham, Cranbourne, Frankston or Sandringham trains. Although each of these terminate in completely different places, they all pass South Yarra train station.

Watch out for express trains. Normally it will say something like “Express South Yarra - Caulfield” meaning that it will skip all stations between those two point!

Buses

These have the largest network in Melbourne but using them still remains a mystery to me. If anyone has any info, stick it in here.