Free City Cats, Perth

It has to be said that Perth does not have a wonderful public transport system compared to cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. However, the good news is that this has been identified as a priority and the public transport network is slowly but consistently being improved, particularly in the CBD area, which is where most tourists will focus their attention.

The Perth CBD is served by three free Central Area Transit (CAT) bus services which are a brilliant way to get around the central area without having to worry about finding parking.

The services are colour coded and follow these routes (taken from the webiste below):

The Red Cat travels in an East-West loop from Queens Gardens in East Perth to Outram St in West Perth.
The Blue CAT travels in a North-South loop from the Barrack St Jetty to Northbridge.
The Yellow CAT operates in a loop from East Perth to West Perth.

The CAT routes are also designed to link with other public transport services, including bus and rail - see the website for details.

The frequency of the services and the stops along each route are given on the website below. Just note that CAT services do not run on Christmas Day, Good Friday and ANZAC Day (25 April).

There are also CAT services operating in Fremantle and Joondalup (a satellite town to the north of Perth).

CATs are a marvellous resource for visitors and residents alike, and every city should have a similar system!

CAT stands for Central Area Transit. It is a free bus service on 3 different routes covering most of central Perth. There are red, blue and yellow cats which provide comfortable and regular service. To travel east and west in CBD, take red cats. To travel north and south, take blue cats. To travel from East Perth to Thomas Street, take yellow cats. Weekdays the cats operate between 6:50 am to 6:20 pm, red cats every 5 mins, blue cats every 7 mins, yellow cats every 10 mins. Red and yellow cats operate on weekends from 10:00 am to 6:20 pm, red cats every 25 mins, yellow cats every 30 mins. Blue cats operate on Saturdays from 8:30 am to 1:00 am every 15 mins, on Sundays from 10:00 am to 6:15 pm every 15 mins. Unfortunately cats don't operate on public holidays.

Transperth operates certain bus lines in the centres that can be used for free, named CAT (Central Area Transport). There are three lines on round courses in Central Perth (Blue, Yellow and Red CAT), the Orange CAT in Fremantle and there are also CAT lines in Joondalup.

The buses are marked with a big black cat on the sides. The bus stops of the CAT lines also show the symbol of the cat.

These buses are in accordance with the needs of tourists and visitors (of course they are also used by locals). They are useful and easy to navigate (unlike Transperth's 'normal' bus lines). The stops are named. There is a plan of the line on board. The next stop is announced. The three routes are marked on any city map.

The CAT buses do not operate in the evening, except on Fridays and Saturdays service ends around 6 p.m. which is a bit of a nuisance...

Download of bus timetables and maps

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Take advantage of Perth's Free Transit Zone to get around the city. As well as the distinctive CAT buses that run every few minutes on seperate circular routes around the city centre, ALL public transport is free within the zone which basically covers the whole city area between Kings Park and the Causeway. No tickets are required and there is no limit on the number of journeys you can make on any bus, train or CAT.

A free CAT bus also operates in Fremantle.

City CATS can be very busy, especially in lunch hour periods, as everybody uses them to get around. Well, why wouldn't they? By using the three regular Cat routes, you can make a really comprehensive tour of just about all of the city's main attractions. Download this PDF file for a route map and list of all the stops on the three different routes (Red, Blue and Yellow) and start planning your own tour of the city.

Perth has a free bus services that drive around central business district.
These buses are called CATS and the service is for free (Hop on hop off).
The buses arrive approximately every 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the route etc.
The routes are either a red or blue some yellow.
The CAT bus stops are clearly marked with a free transit zone and have an audio announcement telling you when the next CAT is due.

NB: No CAT's running on public holidays!

I have used the CAT service. A little story here so you'll be smarter than me when using the free service. You'll be reading facts, website info and stuff written by the other VT-ers.
So here goes....
The bus stopped in the middle of the route and the CAT operator turned around and said, "It's 4.20.... you know what that means. CAT service ends now". It was 4.20pm on the dot when I checked my watch. If there was no connecting bus routes from that stop, walking to the other nearest stop or to wherever you wanna go would be the other options. Or hail a cab, I suppose. I had to walk a pretty good distance to get to where I was suppose to go.

Best to find out the other bus routes of the stops just in case you have to get off somewhere unfamiliar when the CAT service ends for the day.

CATS (central area transport service) are a FREE bus service that operates around central business district (eg only in perth city center).

The buses have a set route and arrive approximately every 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the route, time of day and day of the week. The CAT routes are either a red,yellow, or blue route from Monday to Friday and a special modified route for weekends

In fremantle they have the fremantle cats.

it's really an environmently friendly way of getting around the city, and walking around isn'nt that tough either :)

Getting around Perth is really easy with the free cat buses. There are three different coloured buses, depending on where you want to go. They are red, blue and yellow. They run regularly throughout the day,and depending on which night and bus,it is can run until late. Beware though, that during the week they cease at around 6.00pm.