Getting Around Tasmania: Roads, Public Transport and Connections

This is a general explainer about how people move around Tasmania and its capital, Hobart, and not financial, business or travel advice; routes, timetables, fares and project timelines change over time, so always confirm the current details with the relevant authority before relying on them. What makes getting around Tasmania genuinely different from mainland cities is geography. This is an island state where the River Derwent splits Greater Hobart in two, mountainous terrain shapes where roads can go, and the two main population centres, Hobart in the south and Launceston in the north, sit several hours apart by car rather than being part of one continuous metropolis. That spread means most Tasmanians rely heavily on private cars, and the network of highways linking towns matters as much as transport within any single city.

The road spine of the state is built around a handful of named highways maintained by the Department of State Growth through its Transport Services arm. The Brooker Highway carries traffic into central Hobart from the northern suburbs, the Southern Outlet connects the city to Kingston and the booming southern beaches, and the Tasman Highway runs east across the Tasman Bridge toward the airport and the East Coast. The Midland Highway is the long inland artery joining Hobart and Launceston through the agricultural heart of the island, while the Bass Highway runs along the north coast through Devonport and Burnie. Because so much of the state is rural, these intercity highways do the work that suburban arterials do in larger cities.

River crossings are the defining feature of Hobart commuting. The Tasman Bridge is the principal link between the eastern shore suburbs, such as Bellerive, Lindisfarne and Howrah, and the city centre on the western shore, and it carries a very large share of daily traffic. Because the eastern shore has grown strongly, the bridge is a well-known pinch point at peak times, and the Department of State Growth has pursued upgrades to its pathways and safety barriers to improve walking and cycling access alongside vehicles. Further upstream, the Bowen Bridge offers a second crossing that helps spread heavier and through traffic away from the central bridge.

The single largest transport story in recent years has been the New Bridgewater Bridge, which the Department of State Growth describes as the state's biggest ever transport infrastructure project. Delivered under the Hobart City Deal partnership between the Australian and Tasmanian governments, the new four-lane crossing of the upper Derwent at Bridgewater opened in 2025 to replace the ageing lift-span structure from the 1940s, with new interchanges at Granton and Bridgewater and a shared path for cyclists and pedestrians. Work to remove the old bridge continued after the new one opened. The project reflects a broader pattern in Tasmania of major investment going into key crossings and intercity links rather than into rail-based urban transit.

Public transport in Tasmania is overwhelmingly bus-based. Metro Tasmania, a state-owned operator overseen within the Department of State Growth, runs the main bus networks in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie, and private operators run many regional and intercity coach routes that are coordinated through Transport Services. Unlike Sydney or Melbourne, Hobart has no urban passenger rail, no tram network and no light rail in service; the historic rail corridors in the south are used for freight, and proposals to revive passenger services on them have been discussed publicly over the years without becoming an operating commuter line. For most residents, a Metro bus is the practical public transport option, and the Department of State Growth publishes timetables and fare information through its Transport Services website.

Ferries have returned as a genuine part of the commuter mix on the Derwent. A river ferry service links the eastern shore at Bellerive with the Hobart waterfront, giving eastern-shore commuters an alternative to the Tasman Bridge and reflecting the way the river both divides and connects the city. This is a distinctly Hobart solution to a Hobart problem: in a city built around a deep, navigable river, moving people by water can be faster and more pleasant than queuing for a bridge. Visitors will also encounter the well-known privately run ferry across the Derwent to the Museum of Old and New Art at Berriedale, which has become part of the city's everyday transport texture as much as its tourism offering.

Air and sea links carry the weight of getting on and off the island. Hobart Airport, which the airport operator locates at Cambridge to the north-east of the city, is the main southern gateway and connects Tasmania to mainland capitals and seasonal destinations; it sits a short drive from the city centre along the Tasman Highway, and travellers reach it by car, taxi, rideshare and shuttle services rather than by train. Launceston Airport serves the north, and the Spirit of Tasmania vehicle and passenger ferries link Tasmania to Victoria across Bass Strait, a sea connection that matters enormously for freight, tourism and households moving between the island and the mainland. These external links are central to how Tasmania functions, given that there is no road or rail bridge to the rest of Australia.

Pulling it together, typical movement in Tasmania looks like this: car-dependent commuting concentrated around the Derwent bridges and the main Hobart highways, a bus network operated by Metro Tasmania as the backbone of public transport, growing interest in ferries as a river city solution, and major government investment flowing into roads and key crossings such as the New Bridgewater Bridge. The City of Hobart, as the local council, focuses on inner-city streets, parking, footpaths and active-travel routes within the municipality, while the Department of State Growth manages the highways and state-significant projects and Hobart Airport handles the air gateway. For current routes, fares, roadworks and project updates, the authoritative sources are these bodies themselves, and their details should be checked directly because they are updated regularly.

Sources: Transport Services (Tasmanian Department of State Growth), Department of State Growth - Transport, Metro Tasmania, New Bridgewater Bridge Project, Hobart Airport, City of Hobart.

This article was compiled by AI from the sources linked above and screened before publishing. See our editorial standards.