Month: August 2019

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400 Dethroned, Sydney’s New Busiest Bus Route Revealed

Sydney has a new busiest bus route after the previous holder of the title, Route 400 between Bondi Junction and Burwood via Sydney Airport was truncated to operate solely between Bondi Junction and Sydney Airport last September.

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Route 333 is Sydney’s Busiest Bus Route – Transport for NSW Blog collection

Route 333 between North Bondi and Circular Quay via Bondi Beach, Bondi Junction and Oxford Street is Sydney’s new busiest bus route. This comes after the service was rebranded Bondi Link and had a major frequency increase to coincide with the introduction of a dedicated bendy bus fleet last year. This route is popular with tourists travelling to Bondi Beach and commuters along the densely populated Oxford Street and Bondi Road corridors.

The ability of the 333 to leapfrog up the list form 7th to 1st in just a year is largely attributed to a large frequency increase and the truncation of duplicating bus services such as the 380, which was truncated to operate between Watsons Bay and Bondi Junction rather than all the way to Circular Quay.

B-Line route B1 between Mona Vale and Wynyard has also proved to be highly popular, now the second busiest route in the Sydney bus network after launching just under 2 years ago.

Rounding out the top 5 busiest routes, in third place was Route 343 between Kingsford and Chatswood, in fourth place was Route 400 between Bondi Junction and Sydney Airport and in fifth place was Route M52 between Parramatta and Circular Quay.

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Route 400 is still the 4th busiest bus route this year after falling from 1st place due to its truncation – Transport for NSW Blog Collection

These new standings come from Opal data available through Open Data NSW. This data shows the struggle to attract patronage to Nightride services and services in Western Sydney, with the bottom ten services in terms of patronage all coming from those categories. It also reveals the large increase of patronage to routes in the Eastern Suburbs and Northern Beaches.

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Bathurst Bullet 2.0 Starts September

A second daily Bathurst Bullet service will begin from September 16 2019, doubling the number of train services between Sydney and Bathurst.

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Bathurst Station will see an additional daily Bathurst Bullet form September 16 – Transport for NSW

The new service departs Bathurst Station later in the morning at 7.35am and then returns earlier in the afternoon, departing Sydney at 3.05pm and arriving in Bathurst at 6.47pm. There will be variations to this schedule on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays to allow for existing Indian Pacific and Intercity services. The existing Bathurst Bullet service leaves Bathurst Station at 5.46am and then departs from Central Station in the evening at 5.47pm, arriving in Bathurst at 9.33pm.

The new service will stop at both Tarana and Rydal stations, allowing for better connections to Oberon and surrounding communities. This is considered a big win for these communities which have been fighting for these services since 2012, when the first Bathurst Bullet was introduced. These stops will also be added to the current service.

 

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Featured Bus Route – August 2019

This month our featured bus route is Route 458, which runs between Burwood and Ryde via Strathfield, Concord Hospital and Rhodes. It is operated by State Transit.

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A Route 458 service passes Burwood Station – Transport NSW Blog Collection

The corridor between Burwood and Ryde has been serviced by many bus routes throughout history. The earliest know predecessor to route 458 was route 59. Commencing service between City York Street and Concord on 27 January 1933, Route 59 was one of the original DGT bus services. Upon the opening of the Ryde Bridge on 8 December 1935, the service was extended to Ryde. It was renumbered into the Sydney three digit numbering system as Route 959 on 3 November 1940.

From 1 September 1941, Route 959 trips that diverted via Concord Hospital were renumbered 958. On 21 September 1941, Route 958 became its own distinct route, operating between Burwood and Concord Hospital. On 29 August 1943, Route 958 was renumbered Route 458. Route 458 retained a similar route and timetable between 1943 and 1990.

On 7 October 1990, Route 458 was extended to Ryde, replacing 459 services. From 24 June 2001, selected peak hour services were extended to run to/from Macquarie Centre. 10 September 2006 saw evening and Sunday service introduced. From 4 November 2007, the service was rerouted via Rhodes shops, replacing Route 460. From 4 June 2017, all services were changed to run between Burwood and Ryde only.

Route 458 is operated out of State Transits’ Ryde Depot. It operates a half hourly frequency between 6am and Midnight Monday through Saturday and hourly between 8am and 10pm on Sundays.