Circular Quay ferry wharf is a complex of wharves at

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

, on

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora language, Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central ...

, that serves as the hub for the

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...

ferry network. It is adjacent to

Circular Quay railway station Circular Quay railway station is a New South Wales State Heritage Register, heritage-listed elevated railway station that is located on the City Circle line, serving the Circular Quay precinct of the Sydney central business district in New Sout ...

, which serves as an interchange for

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...

services.

Layout

The Circular Quay ferry wharf complex consists of five double-sided wharves at 90 degrees to the shoreline, numbered 2 to 6. Wharves 3 to 5 are used exclusively by

Sydney Ferries Sydney Ferries is the public transport ferry network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales. Services operate on Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour and the connecting Parramatta River. The network is controlled by the New South Wales Government ...

, wharf 2 Side B is used by Sydney Ferries, wharf 2 A is used by

Manly Fast Ferry Manly Fast Ferry is an Australian ferry operator that services the areas of Botany Bay and Port Jackson. History Since January 1965, the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company and its successors had operated high speed hydrofoil and later Jet ...

by while wharf 6 is used by other operators including Captain Cook Cruises. Each wharf has ticket selling facilities on both sides of the barriers as most other wharves do not have such facilities. On the eastern side alongside Bennelong Apartments, is the ''Eastern Pontoon'' used by charter operators. On the western side, lie the ''Commissioners Steps'' and ''Harbour Masters Steps'' that charter operators and water taxis use. When the

Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company The Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company (PJ&MSC) was a Public company, publicly listed company that operated the Manly ferry services, Sydney, Manly ferries in Sydney, Australia. After being taken over by Brambles Limited, Brambles Industr ...

introduced

hydrofoils A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

to the Manly service in the mid-1960s, a pontoon was attached to the eastern side of wharf 2 to allow the hydrofoils to berth without their foils fouling the wharf. This was removed when the hydrofoils were replaced by JetCats in 1991 before being replaced by the Manly Fast Ferry service in 2009. Wharf 3 is exclusively used by ferries on the Manly service. When the Freshwater class ferries were introduced in the 1980s, the wharf was rebuilt to accommodate their onboard gangways. It has a mezzanine level allowing ferries to disembark passengers from their upper decks. It also houses an office for

Transdev Sydney Ferries Transdev Sydney Ferries, formerly Harbour City Ferries, is a subsidiary of Transdev Australasia, and is the operator of ferry services in the Sydney Ferries network since July 2012. It currently operates the ferry network under a contract unti ...

. To better accommodate the larger ferries, wharf 3 is built higher from the water and this combined with differently configured

Opal card Opal is a Proximity card, contactless smartcard automated fare collection, fare collection system for public transport services in the greater Sydney area. Operation of the Opal system is managed by Transport for NSW. First launched in late 2012 ...

readers and gates, means only Manly ferries can use the wharf. Wharves 2 West, 4 and 5 are used interchangeably by Sydney Ferries.

Ferry services

Transport links

The Circular Quay ferry wharf complex is adjacent to an elevated railway station of the same name. The station is served by

services on the T2 Leppington & Inner West Line, T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line and T8 Airport & South Line. South of the railway station is the

Alfred Street Alfred Street is a street running between the High Street, Oxford, High Street to the north and the junction with Blue Boar Street and Bear Lane at the southern end, in central Oxford, England.

bus terminus. A number of

Transdev John Holland Transdev John Holland Buses is a bus operator in Sydney, Australia. A joint venture between Transdev Australasia, Transdev and John Holland Group, John Holland, it operates services in Sydney Metropolitan Bus Service Contracts, Sydney Bus Regio ...

routes originate from there while two

Big Bus Tours Big Bus Tours (formerly ''Les Cars Rouges'' and ''The Big Bus Company''), is an 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 cities of 11 c ...

routes depart from George Street just north of Alfred Street. There is also the terminus of the L2 and L3 Sydney Light Rail services, located west of the bus terminus, but still on Alfred Street.

References

External links

Circular Quay
at Transport for New South Wales (Archive
10 June 2019

Circular Quay Public Transport Map
Transport for NSW {{Transport for New South Wales ferry wharves, Manly=y, Taronga Zoo=y, Parramatta River=y, Pyrmont Bay=y, Neutral Bay=y, Mosman Bay=y, Double Bay=y, Cockatoo Island=y, Watsons Bay=y, state=collapsed Ferry wharves in Sydney Sydney central business district Articles containing video clips