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City transport
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To appreciate the city, you ideally need a vehicle of some kind - things are very spread out, and at the weekend especially (when many residents leave and the city is quite dead) public transport is extremely limited. You'll find that the dispersed nature of Canberra means that you can easily park your car, often for free, at the main sights. Cycling is very popular and renting a bike - to take advantage of the excellent network of bike paths - is strongly recommended. An alternative to your own transport is the tourist office's handy
hop-on, hop-off double-decker bus
, which serves eleven major sights and routes; buses depart from 9am until 5pm (every 40min) at the Melbourne Building on Northbourne Avenue. Your $25 ticket is valid for 24 hours, and includes obligatory running commentary from the driver; call tel 0500/505 012 for further information. Note, however, that unless you are planning a relentless sightseeing spree, municipal route #34 actually covers many of the major tourist haunts for a fraction of the cost.
Municipal buses are run by Action. The day-trip ticket , purchased from the driver, offers enormous savings; it's valid for as many journeys as you like and costs $8.40 (or $4.40 off-peak - Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm and after 6pm, Sat & Sun all day). Other buses cover all of Canberra, including the satellite towns: for details, contact Action timetable information (Mon-Sat 6am-11pm, Sun 8am-5.30pm; tel 02/6207 7611 or 13 1710, www.action.act.gov.au ). Most Action buses start at the City Bus Interchange, at East Row just across Northbourne Avenue from the Jolimont Centre; you can buy tickets at the Newslink shop behind stance 9, or at most other newsagents. For ticketing purposes, the city is divided into three zones: North, South and Central - most sights are situated within the central zone. Besides the day-trip ticket (valid for all zones), you can pay a single zone, flat-rate fare ($2.30) or a single, all-zone fare ($4.40), both of which can also be bought on board; a ten-journey Faresaver ticket costs $18.40 one zone ($36.80 all zones), or a weekly ticket costs $19.80 ($38) Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Australia,
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