Perth's cheapest petrol

First post of the year, and again it’s us trying to save you money! We’ve done pizza, we’ve done supermarkets ; now it’s time for the black, fuNnY-smelling liquid we all love to hate – petrol.

I consider myself a young man, but I am old enough to remember petrol prices below 70c/L. The lowest price at the time of writing in Perth was $1.35. This is a figure that understandably makes people think very carefully about where to make their petrol purchases.

Of course, the various supermarkets have their 4c-discount deals, blah blah, which is all fine and good, but it means you have to buy their groceries first, and even if you pay attention to our supermarket discount info, the cheapest place to shop won’t necessarily translate to the cheapest petrol, even with the 4c off.

TV and print news usually list the cheapest petrol prices, but not everyone can get that info easily. Fortunately, the State Government’s Consumer Protection team run the FuelWatch site, which lists the prices of all the petrol stations in Perth.

You can search by price, by area, or by petrol type. I find the most useful page is the metro-area unleaded price list. We can only link to today’s prices, but if you change the ‘Search by:’ dropdown menu from ‘Today’ to ‘Tomorrow’, you can plan your route to work or uni to take advantage of the least expensive (more accurate than ‘cheapest’) petrol. Or, if you need some black gold today, just go out and grab it (although we caution you to wait until midweek, which tends to be cheaper).

You can also register to have FuelWatch send you emails as frequently as you choose letting you know tomorrow’s cheapest petrol, and even limit the info to the petrol stations in your area. It also warns you of price hikes the day before they happen.

Of course, at LovingPerth we recommend that instead of driving, you use public transport (see our SmartRider info) or, better yet, hop on your bike! If you just can’t help it or you love being stuck on the freeway for hours, however, FuelWatch is for you.

Mandurah Line Shutdown

As you probably know, the new southern rail line is almost ready to go (finally). It basically runs south along the freeway through South Perth, Rockingham and ends up in Mandurah. Unfortunately, getting it online means disruptions to other services.

To link the new Mandurah Line to the Joondalup Line it is necessary to install, connect and test new track signalling, electrical and communication systems. To complete the work safely, power must be switched off throughout the work area, which will affect services on the Fremantle and Joondalup Lines.

The shutdown is planned to take place during the second week of the October school holidays, from 6.00pm on Sunday 7 October with services resuming on Sunday 14 October.

So how does this affect you?

The Fremantle line will be completely out of service from 7-14 Oct, but there will be buses running in lieu of trains.

The Joondalup line will basically run until Stirling or Glendalough, where you have to jump off and catch a bus, or you could keep going to Leederville and then walk to town.

The Midland line will be running on special timetables.

The Armadale line is unaffected.

So, with less people on trains and more on the roads, the moral of the story is that there will be big fat traffic jams, and you should walk or bike if possible. It’s only for a week, and it’s good for Perth, so bite the bullet and get some exercise. Any questions? We can try to answer them but Transperth is probably your best bet: enquiries@transperth.wa.gov.au.

Transperth Smartrider

Starting in 2007 all Transperth public transport services including buses, ferries and trains will be equipped with a new smartcard system called SmartRider. This new electronic ticketing system will allow you to buy a SmartRider card and store value on it, which can then be used to travel on Transperth services. It’s good for users because it’s cash-free, fast, efficient and enables students and seniors to get special discounted rates. To use SmartRider cards, simply keep them in your wallet or purse and when you step onto the service “tag on” by pressing your wallet (you don’t need to take the card out of your wallet, just press it on the reader) against the reader at the entrance. When you get off the bus, remember to “tag off” on the reader near the exit.

For full information on SmartRider cards, check out the ‘What is SmartRider?’ page on the Transperth website or watch a short video on how to tag on and off when you use buses. Happy traveling!