Transport in Perth, Western Australia, is served by various means, among them an extensive highway / freeway network and a substantial system of commuter rail lines and bus routes. Public transport is managed by the
Transperth
Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system serving the city and suburban areas of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation. Train op ...
agency.
History
Following the settlement of the
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...
in 1829, the
Swan River was the main transportation link between
Perth
Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...
and the port of
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
.
Land transportation was difficult as the only river crossing near Perth, a
ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
at the eastern end of the town, was often impassable for wagons and carts. The next crossing point was upstream at
Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
, a major detour.
The only alternative to these river crossings were ferries, which operated from
North Fremantle,
Preston Point
Preston Point (''Niergarup'' in Noongar) is a small point in the Swan River, Western Australia. It is located in the Perth bordering the suburbs of East Fremantle, and Bicton about south west of the city centre. On the other side of the river ...
,
and
The Narrows
__NOTOC__
The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson Rive ...
.
Road transport
Perth has a road network centred around three freeways and nine metropolitan highways. It has no toll roads.

Highways and Freeways
The
Mitchell Freeway
The Mitchell Freeway is a freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of State Route 2, which continues south as Kwinana Freeway and Forrest Hig ...
connects the city centre to
Joondalup
Joondalup () is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth's central business district. It contains the central business district of the regional City of Joondalup and acts as the primary urban centre of Perth's oute ...
, in Perth's northern suburbs. The
Kwinana Freeway
The Kwinana Freeway is a freeway in and beyond the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with Mandurah to the south. It is the central section of State Route 2, which continues north as Mitchell Freeway to ...
runs through and beyond the city's southern suburbs towards
Mandurah
Mandurah () is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 107,641 as of the 2021 census.
Mandurah's ...
and
Bunbury. The
Graham Farmer Freeway
Graham Farmer Freeway is a inner-city freeway in Perth, Western Australia. It links Rivervale and Burswood with West Perth and Leederville, providing an east-west bypass of Perth's central business district.
The freeway, in conjunction w ...
, incorporating the Northbridge tunnel, was built in 2000, primarily to provide a road link between East Perth and West Perth and act as a city bypass.
The port city of
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
, and adjacent suburbs, are linked to the city centre via
Stirling Highway
Stirling Highway is, for most of its length, a four-lane single carriageway and major arterial road between Perth, Western Australia and the port city of Fremantle in Western Australia on the northern side of the Swan River. The speed limit ...
, which travels on the north side of the
Swan River after crossing into
North Fremantle on the Stirling Bridge. On the southern side of the river,
Canning Highway
Canning Highway is an arterial road in Perth, Western Australia, linking the inner Perth suburb of Victoria Park, Western Australia, Victoria Park in the north-east, to the port city of Fremantle in the south-west.
The road is mostly a four-l ...
, which later continues on as
Great Eastern Highway
Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt and the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfie ...
, connects Fremantle to
Midland, north-east of the city centre.
Leach Highway
Leach Highway is a east-west arterial highway in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, primarily linking Kewdale and Perth Airport with the city of Fremantle.
It is allocated State Route 7 and is a dual carriageway for its enti ...
is a parallel route that terminates at the edge of
Perth Airport
Perth Airport is an international, domestic and general aviation airport serving Perth, the capital city of Western Australia.
It is the fourth busiest airport in Australia measured by passenger movements and falls within the boundaries o ...
. Marmion Avenue is the northern continuation of
West Coast Highway, which runs near the coastline, from
Swanbourne to
Trigg.
The arterial routes out of the
Perth Metropolitan Region
The Perth metropolitan region or the Perth metropolitan area is the administrative area and geographical extent of the Western Australian capital city of Perth and its conurbation.
It generally includes the coastal strip from Two Rocks in ...
radiate out as a series of
spoke
A spoke is one of some number of rods radiating from the center of a wheel (the hub where the axle connects), connecting the hub with the round traction surface.
The term originally referred to portions of a log that had been riven (split l ...
s.
Stock Road
Stock Road is an arterial road in the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The northern terminus is at Page Street in Attadale, near Point Walter on the Swan River. It runs southwards to Canning Highway and then Leach Highway as a r ...
,
Rockingham Road, Patterson Road, Ennis Avenue, and Mandurah Road are part of
Highway 1, and a coastal route to the areas south of Perth. Kwinana Freeway, and its continuation as
Forrest Highway
Forrest Highway is a highway in Western Australia's Peel and South West regions, extending Perth's Kwinana Freeway from east of Mandurah down to Bunbury. Old Coast Road was the original Mandurah–Bunbury route, dating back to the 1840s. ...
, provide a controlled access alternative (
State Route 2) further inland, which meets up with Highway 1 (as Old Coast Road) at
Lake Clifton, south of Mandurah. Albany Highway (
State Route 30) travels in a south-easterly direction to
Albany, Western Australia
Albany ( ; nys, Kinjarling) is a port city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyc ...
. At
Armadale, in Perth's south-eastern suburbs,
South Western Highway
South Western Highway is a highway in the South West region of Western Australia connecting Perth's southeast with Walpole. It is a part of the Highway 1 network for most of its length. It is about long.
Route description
Perth to Bunbury
...
(
State Route 20) branches off Albany Highway, heading south towards
Walpole on Western Australia's southern coast.
Brookton Highway (
State Route 40) leads from Albany Highway in
Kelmscott
Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census reco ...
(just north of Armadale) south-east towards
Brookton.
From the Midland area,
Great Eastern Highway
Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt and the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfie ...
connects to
Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area inclu ...
, and is part of
National Highway 94, which leads to
Adelaide, South Australia.
Great Northern Highway
Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...
links Perth to
Wyndham in the state's north, and is the majority of
National Highway 95 to
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory.
It is the small ...
. It also carries Highway 1 northwards out of Perth.
Toodyay Road (
State Route 50) is a third route out of Midland, heading north-east to
Toodyay.
Wanneroo Road
Wanneroo Road is a arterial highway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia linking Joondanna and Yokine in the south with Wanneroo and Yanchep in the north. As part of State Route 60, it begins from Charles Street in the inne ...
(
State Route 60) is a north-western route from Perth towards
Yanchep
Yanchep is an outer coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia, north of the Perth CBD. It is a part of the City of Wanneroo local government area. Originally a small crayfishing settlement, it was developed by entrepreneur Alan Bond in the 1 ...
and beyond, and Marmion Avenue provides a parallel route to Yanchep.
Ring Road
Roe Highway
Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at Reid Highway and Great Northern Highway in Middl ...
offers a controlled access route between the Kwinana Freeway, east of
Jandakot, east of Fremantle, and Midland. There is a plan to extend
Roe Highway
Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at Reid Highway and Great Northern Highway in Middl ...
, Perth's southern half of its
ring road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
, towards Fremantle via overpasses and a tunnel. If the extension is approved, it will become Perth's only toll road. In
Middle Swan, one suburb north of Midland,
Reid Highway
Reid Highway is a east-west highway and partial freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking North Beach with Middle Swan. As part of State Route 3, it forms half of Perth's outer ring road along with Roe Highway, wh ...
is the continuation of Roe Highway, travelling west to
North Beach, where it meets
Marmion Avenue
Marmion Avenue is a arterial road in the northern coastal suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking Trigg in the south with Yanchep in the north. It forms part of State Route 71 along with West Coast Highway, which it joins onto at its ...
.
Traffic congestion
Weekday traffic congestion is worst during the morning peak hour, when traffic regularly slows to almost half the speed limit. Depending on the road, the weekday peak hour is usually about 7am to 8am, or 8am to 9am. On weekends, congestion is worst later in the morning and harder to predict. Rather than being on roads into the central business district, it centres on beaches, shopping centres, white goods and other
big-box stores
A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The te ...
, and children's sporting grounds, such as netball courts.
Public transport

Perth metropolitan public transport, including trains, buses and ferries, are provided by
Transperth
Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system serving the city and suburban areas of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation. Train op ...
, with links to rural areas provided by
Transwa
Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east.
The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...
. Perth provides zero-fare train trips for SmartRider (travel fare card) holders around the city centre (the "Free Transit Zone"), as well as four high-frequency (every 8–15 minutes)
Central Area Transit (CAT) bus routes (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green), which, alongside trips on regular Transperth buses in the city centre, are free to all users.
Suburban rail
There are five main rail lines, 70 stations and 15 bus stations in the metropolitan area.
Bus
An extensive bus network services the greater Perth metro area. Many bus routes act as feeder routes to the main rail lines.
Regional and interstate rail
The ''
Indian Pacific
The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, li ...
'' passenger rail service connects Perth with
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...
and
Sydney. The ''
Prospector
Prospector may refer to:
Space exploration
* Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962
* ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft
Trains
* Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...
'' passenger rail service connects Perth with Kalgoorlie via several Wheatbelt towns, while the ''
Australind'' connects to
Bunbury, and the ''
AvonLink
The ''AvonLink'' is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between Midland and Northam.
History
The consideration of revitalising passenger services in 1993 saw the ''Avonlink Ministerial Committee'' formed ...
'' connects to
Northam.
Trams
Perth's first trams operated for a short period at the end of the nineteenth century, on an unsuccessful horse-car tramway between the GPO and East Perth.
The city's first electric trams began operating in 1899 between
East Perth
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
and
West Perth, along
Hay Street in central Perth. The electric tram network was ultimately expanded west as far as
Claremont Claremont may refer to:
Places Australia
*Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland
* Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart
* Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth
** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...
, north as far as
Osborne Park, and south across the
Swan River causeway to
Victoria Park,
Como
Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has m ...
and
Welshpool
Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...
.
The initial electric tram infrastructure in Perth was privately funded. The government took over the running of trams in 1914, with the aim of better co-ordinating the network. Trams were an integral part of the public transport system in the early 20th century until the advent of the private automobile. However, long term lack of government investment led to the network being phased out by July 1958. A number of Perth's historical trams are maintained at
Whiteman Park
Whiteman Park is a bushland area located north of Perth, Western Australia. The park is in the suburb of Whiteman, in the Swan Valley in the upper reaches of the Swan River.
It encompasses the source of Bennett Brook - an important place o ...
.
Between 1905 and 1952,
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
had a small but comprehensive tramway network of its own. The Fremantle network was owned and operated by a consortium of local municipalities, and was never linked into the Perth network. Throughout its existence, the Fremantle network covered both the
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
municipality and the adjacent municipality of
East Fremantle
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
. Its tram lines also extended for part of that period into
North Fremantle and
Melville.
There are now various tourist buses decorated as "trams", but running on rubber tyred wheels independently of rails, in both Perth and Fremantle. They operate services such as the Kings Park tram tour and others.
In 2012 a light rail network, to be known as the
Metro Area Express was announced. After being pushed back, it was cancelled in 2016.
Cycling

Cycling in Perth is common on the roads and paths for
recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or ple ...
,
commuting
Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regu ...
and
sport
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
. Between 1998 and 2009 the number of cyclists in Perth increased 450%.
Perth Bicycle Network Monitoring
Airports
Perth is served by Perth Airport
Perth Airport is an international, domestic and general aviation airport serving Perth, the capital city of Western Australia.
It is the fourth busiest airport in Australia measured by passenger movements and falls within the boundaries o ...
in the city's east for regional, domestic and international flights and Jandakot Airport
Jandakot Airport is a general aviation (GA) airport located in Jandakot, Western Australia, about south-southwest of the "general aviation area of the Airport West precinct" at Perth Airport. Jandakot airport opened in 1963. From 1 July 19 ...
in the city's southern suburbs for general aviation and charter flights.
References
{{Commons category, Transport in Perth, Western Australia