Transport NSW Blog

The State Government has announced that 13 of the 14 bus contract regions will be put out to tender next year for a takeover date of 1 July 2021. All regions except for Region 6, which is the Inner West region privatised last year, will be out out to a competitive tender.

Controversially, this will include the three State Transit operated regions. The privatisation of these regions will mean an end to government operated bus services in Sydney after nearly 89 years.

Continue reading “Sydney Bus Regions to be Put Out to Contract”

The exact station locations for Sydney Metro West have been revealed by the State Government. The locations of seven proposed Metro stations have been confirmed at Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock and the Bays Precinct.

Further, the feasibility of building a Metro station in Pyrmont its being investigated, while also assessing a potential station at Rydalmere. Further work is also underway to determine the location of the new Metro station in the Sydney CBD.

These stations are typically well located, however there could be better connectivity at Parramatta and Westmead. The areas surrounding Burwood North and Bays Precinct are rip for redevelopment and gentrification allowing for the metro line to kick start these areas. Five Dock and North Strathfield will both allow for connections into the existing transport network.

With the announcements of the new station locations, there has been some controversy. Around 120 properties will need to be acquired to build the new line, including the Sydney Speedway in Granville. There has already been protests surrounding some of these acquisitions. The line has been further delayed to a 2030 completion and is already looking to break its $20 billion budget. Further, their is criticism of the fact that the line has so few stations, with large 13km and 7km gaps between some stations. It has been suggested by the media and transport analysts that there should be more stations along the line.

Here at Transport NSW Blog, we tend to agree with the criticism that there aren’t enough stations along the line. Metro lines should theoretically have close station spacing and even if station spacing is further apart than a traditional metro, the 13km gap between Parramatta and Olympic Park or the 7km gap between Five Dock and Bays Precinct. Stations at Camellia, Leichhardt North and Pyrmont should be built in order to provide full connectivity and the best outcome for all commuters. This would inevitably lead to a small increase in travel times, but with high service frequencies this would be inconsequential.

It is also concerning that only one CBD station is currently proposed. To get the best possible outcome, there really needs to be more than one CBD station. It is the opinion of Transport NSW Blog that a station under Hunter Street (named and connected to Martin Place), as well as a station under College Street at Hyde Park South, with an entrance at the corner of College, Liverpool and Oxford (named Memorial, after the Hyde Park War Memorial) would be the best outcome. The line should then follow the ridgeline southeast.

From Monday 23 September 2019, the entire Opal network now accepts contactless payments. This means that you can pay on all buses, ferries, trams and trains using your American Express, MasterCard and Visa contactless cards in addition to your Opal card.

You will pay an Adult fare and, if you use the same credit card, debit card or linked device each time you travel, you will receive the same travel benefits of an Adult Opal card. Benefits include:

• $2 discount for every transfer between modes (train, ferry, bus or light rail) as part of one journey.
• The Opal Transfer Discount does not apply when transferring between light rail and Sydney Ferries.
• Half price travel after eight paid journeys in a week.
• Fares capped daily, weekly and on Sundays.
• 30% discount on train fares outside peak times.

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.

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.

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.