Question for Perth based crew!

[AnnaNZ]

Hey there everyone, I'm currently based in Auckland, however looking at getting a transfer over to our Perth base soon - Now that I am beginning to look into doing this, I could really use some advice!

Which suburbs are nice, but somewhat near the airport. I would be renting/sharing with housemates, and just me - so don't need a super family friendly area or anything, just somewhere that is accessible to both things to do (like the CBD) and also to be able to get to work easily enough (on public transport to begin with too)

Also are there 24hr airport busses or trains? Do crew get a discount on them? Where do they run? I tried looking at the transport website but just ended up confusing myself, as I've never even visted Perth before, so even the maps are a bit foreign to me.

Any suggestions & advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,

Anna

[regional_flyer]

Hi Anna!

The suburbs surrounding the airport are fairly nice, and you can find some relatively reasonable rentals. I'd search for anywhere around Redcliffe (same suburb as the airport), Belmont, East Victoria Park, and Bentley. These are around a 10/15 minute drive from the airport. Just north of the river are some really nice areas like Innaloo, Churchlands, Floreat, Wembley, Wembley Downs and Scarborough. Again, fairly reasonable price-wise but you can start to see things getting a bit more expensive. These are around 20/25 minutes from the airport. All of the suburbs I've mentioned are fairly close the the CBD; the train can easily get you in there in about ten to fifteen minutes.

The only transportation at the airport are buses that service the carparks and between the domestic and international terminals (as they are around a 5 minute drive apart!). No trains come anywhere close, unfortunately. The buses are free from the carparks to the terminals (at the international terminal, one of the long term carparks doubles as the staff carpark, and staff have to be bused to the terminal with regular passengers). I'm unsure if the inter-terminal bus is free or not, and thus am not sure if airline staff get discounts or free tickets.

As for transport to the airport itself, the only options are taxis or public buses. The only bus system in Perth is operated by TransPerth, and the only time you get cheaper fares is if you are a student or a pensioner. If you'd be using the buses regular I'd recommend picking up a SmartRider card - you don't save anything, and it's around a $10 fee to sign up for one, but it's basically our version of a charge card that you put money on and then use to pay bus and train fares. I would recommend visiting the TransPerth website (Transperth Homepage (http://transperth.wa.gov.au)) to look at the bus and train networks.

I hope this has managed to answer your questions - if you have any more questions you are more than welcome to send me a PM or whatever and I'll see if I can help :)

[marly]

I would recommend getting a cheap car - early morning sign ons the transport is very few and far between before 0600.
There is a girl at my base uses public transport and spends 3 hours of her day on public transport, and she can not do early mornings or late sign offs due to public transport. If she does have early taxi is the only option and taxis here are not the best either.

[justee1993]

The only transportation at the airport are buses that service the carparks and between the domestic and international terminals (as they are around a 5 minute drive apart!). No trains come anywhere close, unfortunately. The buses are free from the carparks to the terminals (at the international terminal, one of the long term carparks doubles as the staff carpark, and staff have to be bused to the terminal with regular passengers). I'm unsure if the inter-terminal bus is free or not, and thus am not sure if airline staff get discounts or free tickets.