The Riverview Hotel - Transport

Transport

Balmain has several ferry wharves that are serviced by the Inner Harbour ferry services. These wharves are located at Thames Street, Elliot Street and in Darling Street, Balmain East. Services run to Circular Quay. Sydney Ferries maintenance and repair base is at Balmain Shipyard.

Balmain's road network feeds into three main roads – Darling Street, Beattie Street, and Montague/Mullen Street. These streets have limited speeds, typically 40kph and are all single carriageway with parallel parking. Due to the geography of the peninsula, all of these roads feed into Victoria Street and the Western Distributor.

Trams once ran all the way down Darling Street to the Wharf at Balmain East. Due to the very steep incline at the bottom of the street, the trams used a complex 'dummy' counterweight system constructed under the road surface. The trams were pushed up the steep hill by the dummy, and rode the dummy on the way down to safely descend the hill. Sydney Buses have now replaced these tram services. The Bus services that service Balmain are: 441 – Birchgrove to NSW Art Gallery via Rozelle, 442 – Balmain to QVB via Rozelle, 444/445 – Balmain to Campsie, 433 – Balmain to Millers Point.