Getting Around Melbourne
As the capital of Victoria, Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia. With a population of about 3.4 million people as well as many large sporting venues and sightseeing venues and activities, Melbourne is also a popular destination for tourists and it boasts one of the largest tramway systems worldwide.
Getting around the Melbourne City Centre, also called the Central Business District (CBD), is easy because of the design of the city and the excellent transportation system. There are many options for transportation near Melbourne City Centre, including public transportation, known as the “Metlink”, car and taxi as well as by bike.
Servicing the city centre and the suburbs, the Metlink is a transportation system, which is comprised of trams, trains and buses. It is made accessible using the Metcard, which allows you to travel on all three transportation modes, and plans are in place to upgrade the magnetic cards for a smartcard system. The city is divided into two Zones with Zone 1 covering the city centre and the inner suburbs and there are different Metcards for daily travel if you are visiting less than five days or two-hour tickets for longer stays. Most of the tickets are time-based and can be purchase at train stations, trams coin-only ticket machines, many retail businesses and the Met shop. Validating your Metcard may be necessary to enter the station platforms or after you have boarded the tram.
For tourists visiting Melbourne, you may use the free City Circle trams, which travel around the CBD. This service is available daily except Christmas Day and Good Friday and it runs about every 12 minutes. There is also the Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle bus service, which serves specific tourist locations in and around the City Centre. The buses run daily about every 15 minutes and you can also enjoy commentary of the tourist destinations.
Other types of transportation, which is near Melbourne City Centre, include the noticeable Yellow Melbourne taxis, which have standardized fares, with longer rides being expensive. There are also rented cars and the major car rental chains are represented as well as other local companies. In Melbourne, you will find many people using scooters and bikes or motorcycles because of the fantastic bike path system, which is available. The bike paths are shared with pedestrians and dog-walkers and the wearing of helmets is required. Bikes may be rented from Rent bike.