What's Up West? - Youth Transport Issues Prioritised

A workshop about transport was held recently at the 'What's Up West' conference with the Youth Action And Policy Association (YAPA) Western Sydney. In the workshop a group of young people developed a list of their three top priorities on how to improve transport in Western Sydney. The group was 8 young people, under 20 years, who live in a variety of areas in Western Sydney and go to different schools. Here is their list:

Top 3 Priorities For Young People To Improve Public Transport In Western Sydney.

1. Safety
Safety on buses and trains and in public spaces, like when riding your bike or walking. How can we get home at night if we aren’t safe on the buses and trains (or if our parents don’t think we are safe)? How can we promote a healthy lifestyle if we are not safe cycling on the street or walking home?

2. The Availability of Transport and Information
We’d like to catch the bus but if it only comes every hour it’s not very helpful - this happens a lot in Western Sydney. We need more frequent services. Some places in the North West don’t even have a train. We also need better information at bus stops. We need to know when the bus is coming and where it’s going - pretty basic.

3. The Cost of Public Transport
If you have to make a change between trains and buses or between two buses it can be pretty expensive. Buses can be more expensive than trains when you compare the distance travelled. We need a ticket system which works between buses and trains and the fare is calculated on where you are going not by how many changes you make. Why can’t we have what other places have, like in Melbourne, or what the pensioners have with the Pensioner Excusion Ticket? This would make public transport cheaper and we would be more likely to use it.

You can find out more about YAPA at www.yapa.org.au