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Public buses in Cairns seem to be operated by Sunbus, but they're part of the wider Queenland Translink system. There's a special Translink website area for Cairns, and a lot of the links from the Sunbus site for information take you back to the Translink site. The outside of the buses I've seen in Cairns all have Translink written on them.

Within the South-East Queensland area, it's generally recommended to get a Go Card to pay for your bus / train / etc trips. (It's much simpler and cheaper than using paper tickets). The Go Card site says

go card is TransLink's South East Queensland electronic ticket. It allows you to travel seamlessly on all TransLink bus, train, ferry and tram services.

Cairns isn't in South-East Queenland, but it does have buses run on behalf of Translink (with Translink branding on the side), and the Translink page on ticket pricing covers both Cairns and SE-Queensland.

So, given all that, is a Go Card valid on buses in the Cairns area?

dlanod
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Gagravarr
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The Translink Go Card page says

Use go card on all TransLink bus, train (including Airtrain), ferry and tram services in greater Brisbane, Ipswich, Sunshine Coast, and Gold Coast regions.

So Go Card services have not yet extended beyond SE Queensland.

curiousdannii
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dlanod
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The name "TransLink" is a brand name owned by the State Government, however, most public transport bus services across the State are operated by private contractors to the State Government. This includes most public transport bus services in South East Queensland. The public transport bus system in Cairns is operated by a contractor with blue buses all marked as TransLink, however, the GoCard is not valid in Cairns as of 24/04/2019.

Peter Wentworth
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