Commuters on Sydney ferries have been making the most of the free Wi-Fi for years, and now those who travel by bus can also give their data package a rest by downloading an app called ‘Catch’ and accessing free Wi-Fi while on board.
Transport NSW rolled out free Wi-Fi on 50 of its buses across the city as part of a trial. You may have seen the pink branded buses on routes from the city to Bondi, on the Northern Beaches and in the Inner West. The Wi-Fi buses will rotate across different routes every day so each area gets a trial run.
So it’s good news for commuters, right? Well there are a few caveats; firstly, you have to download an app (not all bad) and accept the Ts & Cs including data tracking of you and your device (not so great) but once you do there’ll be free Wi-Fi – limited to the app’s partners, namely News Corp and friends (Oh!).
APN Outdoor is behind the app, which delivers internet access via its partners Foxtel, Sky News and Harris Farms. So if you don’t mind catching up on the day’s events via those news sites you’re winning… if you do, it might not be worth saving your gigabytes.
On the plus side, there are no streaming or bandwidth constraints so it’s the perfect time to catch up on episodes of Gogglebox. If the trial is a success, Catch could be available on 1,000 buses by the end of the year. In addition to the Wi-Fi, buses will also be screening Sky News on its TV screens.