{"id":5006,"date":"2018-01-07T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T07:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.stillaslife.com\/?p=5006"},"modified":"2018-01-07T08:57:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T22:57:08","slug":"travelling-bus-australia-murrays-sydney-canberra-express-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stillaslife.com\/travelling-bus-australia-murrays-sydney-canberra-express-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelling by bus in Australia on Murrays Sydney-Canberra Express Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I visited Canberra<\/a> recently, I decided to go via bus instead of driving myself.<\/p>\n

Murrays<\/a> and Greyhound<\/a> both offer express services that run from Sydney<\/a>\u2019s Central Station to Canberra<\/a>\u2019s Jolimont Centre Bus Terminal via the Sydney<\/a> Airport and back. These services are meant to be three hours and thirty minutes, about the same time as driving it yourself.<\/p>\n

\"Murrays<\/a>
Murrays Coaches Waiting at Central Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Greyhound has free wifi on a limited number of their coaches, but they do the route much less frequently, so I opted to try Murrays as they run a bus almost every hour, 24 hours a day, giving me the most options for bus times. As an added bonus, if you travel this route frequently, Murrays also have a loyalty program where you get every 6th trip free. That\u2019s awesome and strikes me as a cheap way to get from Canberra<\/a> to Sydney<\/a> for cruises, especially if you need to go to the White Bay cruise terminal<\/a>. Just get the bus from Canberra<\/a> to Sydney<\/a> Airport and then take the cruise line airport transfer shuttle to White Bay!<\/p>\n

But, I digress…<\/p>\n

\"Murrays<\/a>
Murrays Coaches at Canberra<\/a>\u2019s Jolimont Centre Bus Terminal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After selecting the trip time, Murrays Coaches offer three fare types priced as below (current at the time of writing):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Hot discount – $38.00<\/li>\n
  2. Premium discount – $42.00<\/li>\n
  3. Fully flexible – $46.00<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Since I had to rely on the Intercity Train to get me from Lake Macquarie to Central Station, I booked the fully flexible fare. This means that if the train is late, delayed, or just doesn\u2019t turn up, I can change my booking at no cost up to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time (although they are pretty flexible and may accommodate your change later than that time if possible).<\/p>\n

    My train was due to arrive half an hour before the bus departure, which is plenty of time. Unfortunately, my train was delayed twice, and I didn\u2019t get into Central Station until a few minutes after my bus departed.<\/p>\n

    Fortunately, I was able to quickly change my booking to the next bus. You can do this online or by calling Murrays customer service number. I was very impressed with the ease of change, though it wasn\u2019t helped by the awful phone reception along the train line.<\/p>\n

    The other benefit of the flexible ticket is that if you happen to arrive early, you can change to an earlier coach. On my return trip to Sydney<\/a>, it worked out better for me to get to the Jolimont Centre in Canberra<\/a> about an hour earlier. I got there just as the bus before mine began boarding, so I swapped onto it and got back to Sydney<\/a> an hour earlier than planned.<\/p>\n

    In Sydney<\/a>, Murrays coaches operate from Pitt St, a level below the main station platform at Central Station.<\/p>\n