Coach travel in Australia Voyage Tips and guide

Coach travel (long-distance bus travel) is one of the best ways to see many parts of rural or regional Australia, particularly to areas not part of the state rail network.

For simplicity's sake, this article only covers mainland Australia – Tasmania is not covered under this article (as the lines between coaches and urban buses is hazy).

The coach network of Australia can be confusing with there being a mix of government-run coaches, private operators and a hybrid of the two. New South Wales (and the Australian Capital Territory) and Victoria both have sizable coach networks that complement regional trains. Western Australia has a good state-run coach network in the south of the state that's mostly standalone in place of its limited regional rail network. Queensland has a sizable regional rail network, but the frequencies are inadequate for the demand, resulting in multiple government-subsidised private coach companies throughout the state. South Australia and the Northern Territory are similar to Queensland but lack regional rail networks – funding is also a lot more hazy.

Greyhound Australia and Firefly are the main operators of interstate coach routes between the state capitals. No coaches cross the Nullarbor Plain from the big eastern cities to Perth. However, there is one interstate route into Western Australia, run by Greyhound Australia between Katherine in the Northern Territory and Broome in the north of Western Australia.

NSW Trainlink and V/Line, the state coach operators of New South Wales and Victoria respectively, operate some routes into the neighbouring states.

NSW TrainLink runs five different key train lines outside of Sydney – one towards Dubbo (Western), one towards Canberra (Southern), one towards Melbourne (Southern), one towards Armidale/Moree (Northwest; coupled train service) and one towards the North Coast. Other infrequent services to Griffith and Broken Hill also exist but in isolation with no connecting coaches.

Each coach is assigned to a certain region which often connect to that region's trains. Some coach routes may straddle multiple regions, but it will only connect to a train service on one end. Note that some Western NSW coaches connect with BMT intercity trains and the Taree–Broadmeadow Coach (via The Bucketts Way) connects with the CCN. Not all coaches connect with trains either – some coaches are standalone.

All services need to be booked in advance on the NSW TrainLink website – bookings close 60 minutes before departure. The only three exceptions to this where you can use an Opal card are:

• Campbelltown–Goulburn (Southern)
• Moss Vale–Wollongong (Southern; connects with Canberra XPL and Melbourne XPT).
• Lithgow–Bathurst (Western)

On these routes, tap on at each train station before you board and show your Opal card to the coach driver.

A list of all bookable coach routes are as follows:

Southern

• Canberra–Bombala via Jindabyne (morning Canberra XPL sb/midday Canberra XPL nb)
• Canberra–Eden via Cooma and Bega (midday Canberra XPL)
• Canberra–Goulburn (standalone)
• Canberra–Cootamundra (daytime Melbourne XPT)
• Canberra–Wagga Wagga (standalone)
• Cootamundra–Mildura via Griffith (daytime Melbourne XPT)
• Wagga Wagga or Albury–Echuca (daytime Melbourne XPT)
• Wagga Wagga–Griffith (both daytime and nighttime Melbourne XPT, depending on day)
• Cootamundra–Bathurst (daytime Melbourne XPT)
• Cootamundra–Dubbo (daytime Melbourne XPT)
• Wagga Wagga–Condobolin (daytime Melbourne XPT)
• Wagga Wagga or Cootamundra–Tumbarumba (daytime Melbourne XPT)
• Mildura (Victoria)–Broken Hill (standalone)
• Broken Hill–Adelaide (South Australia) (standalone)

Coach routes within Canberra can make multiple stops within Canberra, which can take up to an hour sometimes. Most coaches will at least make a stop at either Canberra (Kingston) Station, Canberra Civic's coach terminal or Canberra Airport.

Western

• Castlereagh Highway corridor – Lithgow to
  • Gulgong (via Kandos and Rylstone)
  • Coonabarabran (via Kandos and Rylstone)
  • Baradine (via Mendooran)
  • Baradine (via Coolah)
• Mitchell Highway corridor – Lithgow to
  • Nyngan (via Molong and direct)
  • Orange (via Millthorpe)
• Lithgow or Bathurst–Grenfell (via Cowra)
• Lithgow or Bathurst–Parkes
• Parkes–Condobolin
• Dubbo–Broken Hill
• Dubbo–Bourke
• Coolabah–Brewarrina (connector to Bourke service)
• Dubbo–Lightning Ridge
• Dubbo–Tamworth

Northwest

• Tamworth or Armidale–Inverell
• Narrabri–Wee Waa or Burren Junction
• Armidale–Tenterfield

North Coast

• Broadmeadow–Taree
• Tamworth–Wauchope
• Moree–Grafton
• Grafton–Byron Bay via Yamba and Ballina
• Casino–Tweed Heads
• Casino–Surfers Paradise
• Casino–Brisbane
• Lismore–Alstonville
• Lismore–Lennox Head

Although a Victorian state government operator, V/Line does operate a few coach routes that extend into New South Wales. Many of them are aimed at connecting parts of the old Victorian rail network, though some of the corridors aren't served by NSW TrainLink services at all.

The state-wide fare cap only applies to destinations within 60 km of the Victorian border – this covers Albury, Merimbula and Deniliquin, but not Canberra, Cooma, Griffith or Batemans Bay.

V/Line routes into NSW include:

• Bairnsdale–Merimbula
• Bairnsdale–Narooma
• Bairnsdale–Batemans Bay
• Bairnsdale–Canberra via Bombala (from Bombala, using V/line is often faster than taking the NSW TrainLink coach due the shorter route V/line takes)
• Albury–Canberra
• Shepparton–Griffith
• Echuca–Deniliquin
• Swan Hill–Mildura via Euston

Premier Motor Service offers two routes within New South Wales – one between Sydney and Brisbane, the other between Sydney and Eden.

The Sydney–Brisbane service has two routes – one that practically stops at virtually every centre along the Pacific Highway making for a very long and slow ride and an express service that only stops at the important centres (but still takes a lot longer). It is not government subsidised so the price can sometimes be more expensive than the train.

The Sydney–Eden route is subsidised and has far cheaper fares, filling in for the lack of a TrainLink route down the A1 Princes Highway. If you want to save even more money, you can also take the SCO intercity train down to Bomaderry on an Opal card and change for a coach there.

Greyhound has services to Melbourne and Brisbane from Sydney, neither of which are subsidised by the state government. The Melbourne coach follows an express route, only stopping at Canberra and Albury within New South Wales. The route to Brisbane, however, follows a more indirect route stopping at many smaller towns along the way (making it even longer than the XPT from end-to-end).

During winter, a special seasonal service also exists to the Snowy Mountains – stopping at Cooma, Berridale, Jindabyne, Bullocks Flat and Thredbo.

Murrays operates express coaches between Sydney and Canberra on an hourly basis, only stopping at Sydney Airport.

There are also coaches between Canberra and Wollongong via Macquarie Pass, as well as coaches between Canberra and Batemans Bay or Narooma via the Kings Highway.

Apart from local Dubbo services, Langleys Coaches also runs a Dubbo–Newcastle service via the B84 Golden Highway. It is not government subsidised and only targets seniors/retirees, however.

All of the Northern Territory's three main highways – the Stuart, the Barkly and the Victoria Highways – have coaches run by Greyhound Australia. The main coach down the A87 Stuart Highway is the Darwin–Alice Springs coach and the Adelaide–Alice Springs coach south of Alice Springs, while the main coach down the A1 Victoria Highway is the Darwin–Broome coach (overnight) – at Broome, you can change for an Integrity coach down to Perth. To travel on the A2 Barkly Highway, change at Tennant Creek for the coach onwards to Townsville.

Queensland has no state-owned coach operator – all of them are run by private companies, subsidised by the Queensland Government. With the exception of the A1 Bruce Highway, most highways are only served by a single operator, which are as follows in this table.

Most coach routes are operated by Greyhound. Murrays covers several routes in the Darling Downs, particularly further to the west. Crisps mainly centres around Warwick and Toowoomba. Some routes in Far North Queensland are run by Trans North.

NSW TrainLink has several coaches to South East Queensland departing from Casino to connect with the Brisbane and Casino XPTs. These make several stops in Queensland, including Brisbane Transit Centre, Beenleigh, Surfers Paradise and Robina. NSW TrainLink, however, bans all internal Queensland travel and thus you can only use TrainLink coaches from a New South Wales destination (including Tweed Heads).

South Australia does not have a government-run coach operator. Instead, coach services are contracted to private companies by the state government through a tender process. It is also served on some cross-border services by the government coach operators of Victoria and New South Wales.

SeaLink provides a daily coach service from Adelaide to Cape Jervis to connect with the ferry to Kangaroo Island. This can only be booked on a combination ticket with the ferry, and not as a standalone coach service. Once you are on Kangaroo Island, there are coach connections by Yorke Peninsula Coaches from the ferry terminal at Penneshaw to American River and Kingscote, but in all honesty you are better off renting a car and driving yourself around.

Yorke Peninsula Coaches, as its name suggests, operates coach services out of Adelaide to the Yorke Peninsula, but also runs coaches to from Adelaide to some other rural towns in the Outback, as well as the only coach service within Kangaroo Island

• Adelaide—Gawler—Clare—Jamestown—Peterborough
• Adelaide—Gawler—Clare—Burra—Terowie—Peterborough
• Adelaide—Port Wakefield—Kadina—Wallaroo—Moonta
• Adelaide—Balaklava
• Adelaide—Port Wakefield—Yorketown
• Penneshaw—American River—Kingscote

NSW TrainLink operates a twice-weekly coach between Broken Hill and Adelaide. It is a standalone service contracted to BusBiz and doesn't connect to any other coaches or trains in NSW.

The coach between Adelaide and Alice Springs along the A87 is operated by Greyhound, but not subsidised.

A codeshare with Firefly also exists for Melbourne to Adelaide, but it doesn't make any stops within South Australia.

• Melboure—Bendigo—Horsham—Adelaide (South Australia)

• Perth—Albany

• Perth—Geraldton—Exmouth—Karratha—Port Hedland—Broome
• Perth—Dalwallinu—Mount Magnet—Meekatharra—Newman—Port Hedland

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