The New South Wales (NSW) government has committed $452 million to enhance bus services across Sydney and surrounding regions. This substantial investment aims to alleviate overcrowding and improve transport access in rapidly growing areas.
A significant portion, $56 million, will fund 50 new articulated (bendy) buses. These buses will be deployed to key areas experiencing capacity issues, including parts of Sydney's north, northwest, east, and northern beaches. Bendy buses offer a 25% increase in passenger capacity compared to standard buses.
Further investment will create new routes and increase the frequency of existing ones. This includes:
Sydney’s northern beaches, eastern suburbs as well as parts of Ryde, Epping and Lane Cove will have 50 new bendy buses to help ease overcrowding on commuter services, while extra regular school services will be added to new growth areas under a major budget investment.
The NSW Labor government will commit $452 million in Tuesday’s budget to increase the number of commuter services and accelerate the rollout of new buses.
As part of the new funding, $56 million will be spent on 50 new articulated – or “bendy” – buses to address capacity shortages on some of the busiest routes in Sydney, where passengers face long waits to get on a bus. The key areas earmarked for the new bendy buses include parts of Sydney’s north, north-west, the east, and the northern beaches.
A bendy bus can carry more than 100 passengers – about 25 per cent more than a standard bus.
Extra routes will also be added in Sydney’s outer suburbs and regional areas, with $26 million to be spent on new standard buses to ensure expanded timetables can be delivered.
Also in the funding package is a $150 million budget boost to provide more regular school bus services in the fast-growing outer suburbs of Sydney and some regional areas where transport infrastructure has lagged housing development.
This will include south-western and north-western Sydney, Illawarra, the Central Coast, the South Coast and the Hunter.
Bus services will also be introduced between Wilton and Campbelltown, where there is new housing growth, and there will be more frequent buses between Liverpool and Parramatta and Rouse Hill and Parramatta, the government says.
Under the previous government, the M52 bus service was axed, severing the direct link between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD through the Ryde area. But Labor took a commitment to the election that it would expand the 500X service to Parramatta, restoring the connection.
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