Be prepared and plan: Rail, bus and ferry revolution has arrived

The single largest uplift in public transport services has arrived today, offering commuters an additional 8,600 new weekly train, bus and ferry services and transforming Sydney’s public transport network.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance encouraged customers to plan their journeys ahead of the weekday peak hour as the biggest change to Sydney’s transport network comes into effect.

“As of today, customers will benefit from more than 1,500 extra weekly train services, almost 7,000 new weekly bus services and more than 140 new weekly ferry services – the biggest single increase in Sydney’s history,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We have prioritised public transport investment with more than $1.5 billion going into the rail network and have purchased more trains, buses and ferries.”

New key highlights of the rail improvements include:

• More than 1,500 extra weekly services, including more than 750 on weekends
• South West Sydney to receive a 92 per cent increase in services, including Leppington and Edmondson Park.
• 71% of stations will now receive a minimum 15-minute service frequency across most of the day - a 43% increase.
• More than 40% increase in the number of weekly services stopping at Parramatta.
• A 22% service uplift at Penrith Station.
• New fast services between Liverpool and the Sydney CBD on the T3 Bankstown line.

Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance today asked customers to be patient as thousands of new services are introduced.

“Customers need to be prepared for these massive changes. It is the biggest single change we have ever experienced and it’s taken a mammoth effort behind the scenes to get to this point,” Mr Constance said.

“On top of the rail transformation, places like the Northern Beaches now have a redesigned bus network with 3,200 extra weekly services, including more than 2,000 additional weekly services on the brand new B-Line.

“Extra weekly bus services are also being introduced on routes in the Macarthur and Hills Districts, Inner West, Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore and Northern Suburbs.

“We’re also introducing more ferry services just in time for summer, including the new Cross Harbour ferry route linking the Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore, Inner West and Sydney CBD.”

To help prepare for the transition, customers are being encouraged to plan their journey ahead.

“We’ll be watching the rollout closely, both in control centres and on the ground, monitoring each service on the public transport network. Big changes like these typically take a few weeks to bed in, so our priority now is to keep everyone moving safely while helping customers to get used to the new timetable,” Mr Constance said.

“To help with the transition, we have around 400 staff in pink shirts out and about at key locations across the network to help customers get to where they need to go and that’s in addition to our hundreds of frontline staff who are also available to help customers.”

Customers can plan their journey ahead by visiting www.transportnsw.info, using the trip planning apps on their mobile devices or phoning the Transport Info Line on 131 500.