The Sydney Explorer was an Australian

open top bus An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and s ...

tourist sightseeing service operating in the Sydney central business district and Eastern Suburbs. Nowadays the company is owned by

Big Bus Tours Big Bus Tours (formerly ''Les Cars Rouges'' and ''The Big Bus Company''), is the largest operator of open top bus sightseeing tours founded in May 2011 after "Les Cars Rouges" and the "Big Bus Company" merged. The company operates in 23 citie ...

and trades as Big Bus Sydney.

History

On 23 November 1980, the

Urban Transit Authority The Urban Transit Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, was responsible for the operation and maintenance of buses and ferries in Sydney and Newcastle from July 1980 until January 1989. History The Urban ...

commenced operating the Sydney Explorer looping the Sydney central business district. It was operated with

Mercedes-Benz O305 The Mercedes-Benz O305 was a single deck, double deck and articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in Mannheim, West Germany from 1968 until 1988. It was built as either a complete bus or a bus chassis and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptation ...

and O405 buses that apart from being painted in red Sydney Explorer livery and having a public address system, were identical to those used in normal service. In 1990, a fleet of six (later increased to eight) Pressed Metal Corporation bodied Mercedes-Benz O405 coaches were introduced. In September 1998, the Bondi & Bay Explorer was introduced operating from

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the ...

to the Eastern Suburbs. It was operated by four

Ansair Ansair was an Australian bus bodybuilder owned by Ansett Transport Industries and later the Clifford Corporation. History Ansair was founded by Reg Ansett in 1945 at Tullamarine, to make bodies for his Ansett Pioneer coaches, as well as manufa ...

bodied Scania L113CRLs painted in a blue livery. In November 2010, both services were sold to City Sightseeing who had been operating

tours in Sydney since the early 2000s. No buses were included in the sale, with City Sightseeing continuing to operate its existing routes only with its fleet of

MCW Metrobus The MCW Metrobus is a two and three-axle double-decker bus manufactured by Metro Cammell Weymann (MCW) between 1977 and 1989, with over 4,000 built. The original MkI was superseded by the MkII which had a symmetrical windscreen with an arched ...

es. From May 2012 new Anhui Ankai buses were introduced on these routes. Operations initially operated under the City Sightseeing brand, before the Big Bus Sydney name was introduced in 2016. When

Ensignbus Ensignbus is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. History Ensignbus was formed in 1972 by Peter Newman, who remains involved today as chairman and his sons Ross and Steve as directors. Ensignbus commenced with ...

sold the City Sightseeing business in 2011, it retained ownership of the Sydney operation. In 2016, Sydney Explorer relinquished its City Sightseeing franchise and became a

affiliate.

Tickets

Big Bus Sydney offers 4 tickets: - Classic: valid for 24hrs - Premium: valid for 48hrs - Deluxe: 48hr ticket + Captain Cook 1-day Hop On Hop Off cruise - Deluxe Plus: 48hr ticket + Captain Cook 1-day Hop On Hop Off cruise + Sea Life Aquarium, Sydney Wild Life Zoo, Sydney Tower Eye, Madame Tussauds Museum. Big Bus Sydney now stops at 23 different locations in the Sydney City tour. The Bondi tour is suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

Service Information
Big Bus Sydney

History

Tickets

References

Further reading