Additional 2700 weekly services to help clogged Sydney roads

 

Hopefully the transport system in Sydney gets better with the announcement of additional train, ferry and bus services and help reduce traffic jams. Or perhaps is it going to be a series of road tolls as e-Toll bill stealthily takes over our lives while fuel, carbon tax and energy bills are the main and obvious concerns of the people as well as politicians. Public is using less and less cars whereas public transport use is on the rise.

Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian on October 20 announced public transport customers will benefit from more than 2700 additional weekly services under the state’s first integrated transport timetable, beginning today.

Ms Berejiklian encouraged customers to check new train, bus and ferry times ahead of the first big test of the new timetable ”“ Monday morning’s peak.

“This will be the first integrated timetable designed for customers and delivered by the new integrated transport authority, Transport for NSW,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“It delivers more than 1000 extra train services a week, 1700 extra bus services and 55 extra ferry services ”“ it’s the extra frequency and capacity customers have been crying out for.

“The new timetable makes the best possible use of our infrastructure and rolling stock and will deliver more services, new express services, and shorter travel times for many customers travelling longer distances.”

The new train timetable includes:

  • More than 1000 extra weekly train services.
    • More than 600 new express train services across the network every week compared to the previous timetable, by making services faster.
    • More than 690 extra weekly services for Western Sydney.
    • More than 1700 extra bus services a week in total including 800 in the peaks.
      • More than 1200 extra weekly bus services for Western Sydney, 40 for Campbelltown, 429 for the Inner West, 119 for the North Shore and Northern Suburbs, 30 for Newcastle and 30 for the Illawarra;
      • Six new bus routes benefiting Blacktown, Penrith, Fairfield, Burwood and Dulwich Hill;
      • 55 extra weekly ferry services including ferry routes with new consistent stopping patterns and longer hours of operation to better match demand.
        • More frequent ferry services to cater for demand at Abbotsford, Cabarita, Balmain, Darling Harbour, Cremorne Point, Mosman Bay, Double Bay and Rose Bay and faster trips for many on the Parramatta River;
        • Extra ferry services stopping along the Parramatta River, with even more services provided on Sunday when demand is at its highest.

 

Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins said his organisation had invested almost two years in preparing for the implementation of the timetable.

He said more than 140 staff will be redeployed this week to assist customers on the network and the extra services mean 60 extra train crew have been employed.

“Delivering a timetable of this scale with so many extra services is a massive and complex task ”“ so we ask our customers to be patient because despite the thousands of hours of preparation, there is no dress rehearsal,” he said.

Ms Berejiklian encouraged customers to plan ahead.

“If you still haven’t planned how you’ll travel tomorrow morning, now is the time to get online and plan your train, bus and ferry journeys under the new timetable,” she said.

“We’re working hard to make sure everything is in place for tomorrow morning when hundreds of thousands of customers will use the new timetables to get to work, study and other activities for the first time.”

Customers can plan their journeys and download timetables by visitingtransportnsw.info  or downloading the New Times app from the App Store or Google Play. Customers can also phone the Transport Info Line on 131 500 to ask questions about the new timetable.

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