Circular Quay ferry wharf

Circular Quay
View towards the wharf, railway station and surrounding buildings from Sydney Cove, 2025
General information
Location	Alfred Street, Sydney New South Wales Australia
Coordinates	33°51′40″S151°12′39″E / 33.86111°S 151.21083°E / -33.86111; 151.21083
Owner	Transport for NSW
Operator	Transdev Sydney Ferries
Platforms	5 wharves (10 berths)
Connections	Circular Quay Circular Quay Circular Quay
Construction
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	Staffed
History
Former names	Circular Quay Ferry Terminal (–2013)
Services Preceding wharf Sydney Ferries Following wharf Terminus F1 Manly Manly Terminus F2 Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo Terminus F3 Parramatta Milsons Point towards Parramatta F4 Pyrmont Bay Milsons Point towards Pyrmont Bay F5 Neutral Bay Kirribilli towards Neutral Bay F6 Mosman Bay Cremorne Point towards Mosman Bay F7 Double Bay Darling Point towards Double Bay F8 Cockatoo Island Balmain towards Cockatoo Island F9 Watsons Bay Rose Bay towards Watsons Bay
Location

Time-lapse of maritime traffic at Circular Quay, 2018

The Circular Quay ferry wharf is a complex of wharves at Circular Quay, on Sydney Cove, that serves as the hub for the Sydney Harbour ferry network. It is adjacent to Circular Quay railway station and the terminus station for the CBD and South East Light Rail line, thus serving as an interchange for those services. The complex consists of five wharfs, servicing the Sydney ferry fleet as well as various privately owned ferry services.

Layout

The Circular Quay ferry wharf complex consists of five double-sided wharves at 90 degrees to the shoreline, numbered 2 to 6. ^[1] Wharves 3 to 5 are used exclusively by Sydney Ferries, wharf 2 Side B is used by Sydney Ferries, wharf 2 A is used by Manly Fast Ferry 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 introduced hydrofoils 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. To better accommodate the larger ferries, wharf 3 is built higher from the water and this combined with differently configured Opal card 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

Platform	Line	Stopping pattern	Notes
2	MFF	Side A Fast ferry shuttle to Manly	[2]
		Side B Direct service to Double Bay in Mornings Stops at Darling Point and Double Bay in the Afternoon	[3]
		Side B Peak hour weekday services to Rose Bay Only Off-peak and Weekend all stops Services to Watsons Bay	[4]
3		Side A Shuttle to Manly	[5]
		Side B Shuttle to Manly using Freshwater-class ferries	[5]
4		Shuttle to Taronga Zoo	[6]
		All Stops to Neutral Bay	[7]
		All stops to Mosman Bay	[8]
5		Weekdays to Sydney Olympic Park, Rydalmere or Parramatta using various stopping patterns, Some peak hour trips to Chiswick via Balmain or Balmain West Weekends to Barangaroo, Cockatoo Island then all stops to Sydney Olympic Park or Parramatta	[9]
		All stops to Pyrmont Bay	[10]
		All stops to Cockatoo Island 1 Service at 11:45PM to Woolwich on weekdays only	[11]
6	CCLC	Captain Cook Cruises service to Hunters Hill	[12]
	Harbour Explorer	Captain Cook Cruises service Darling Harbour to Fort Denison, Taronga Zoo, Watsons Bay & Manly	[13]
	CCWB	Captain Cook Cruises Watsons Bay Rocket	[14]
	MDH	Tourist Hop on/Hop off service around Sydney Harbour During evenings only Manly Darling Harbour Loop Service	[15] [16]

Transport links

External image
Map of Circular Quay Interchange (PDF) by Transport for New South Wales, updated 2020.

The Circular Quay ferry wharf complex is adjacent to an elevated railway station of the same name. The station is served by Sydney Trains 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 bus terminus. A number of Transdev John Holland routes originate from there while two Big Bus Tours 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

1. "Diagram of Circular Quay on bottom right corner of PDF" (PDF). TRANSPORT NSW.
2. "Manly Fast Ferry Timetable". Transport NSW Manly Fast Ferry.
3. "F7 Ferry Timetable". Trransport NSW.
4. "F9 Watsons Bay Ferry Timetable". Transport NSW.
5. "F1 Manly Ferry Timetable". Transport NSW.
6. "F2 Taronga Zoo timetable". Transport NSW.
7. "F5 Neutral Bay Ferry Timetable". Transport NSW.
8. "F6 Mosman Bay ferry timetable". Transport NSW.
9. "F3 Parramatta River Ferry Timetable". Transport NSW.
10. "F4 Pyrmont Bay ferry timetable". Transport NSW.
11. "F8 Cockatoo Island timetable". Transport NSW.
12. "Lane Cove Ferry Timetable". Transport NSW (captain cook cruises service).
13. "Harbour explorer". Captain Cook Cruises.
14. "Watsons Bay rocket timetable" (PDF). Captain Cook Cruises.
15. "Circular Quay sightseeing cruise". My Fast Ferries. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
16. "Manly Darling Harbour Loop service". Transport NSW.

External links

• Circular Quay at Transport for New South Wales (Archived 10 June 2019)
• Circular Quay Public Transport Map Transport for NSW