Overcoming Barriers To Flexible Transport Service Provision In NSW

Flexible Transport Services is an emerging term in passenger transport which covers a range of mobility offers including Demand Responsive Transport, where services are flexible in one or more of the dimensions of route, vehicle allocation, vehicle operator, type of payment and passenger category. Although flexible transport services are used increasingly in Europe and the US as part of the public transport mix in areas where demand is too low to support conventional public transport, there are few sustained examples of these services in Australia. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in NSW including service providers, peak organisations, users, regulators and policy-makers, the paper identifies barriers to greater use of flexible transport services in NSW. Barriers include institutional frameworks such as policy and regulation; economic issues of funding and fares; operational issues of fleet and vehicles; as well as operator and community attitudes; and information and education. The paper makes recommendations to enable and encourage greater use of flexible transport services by transport service planners and providers.
Rhonda Daniels and Corinne Mulley; Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney NSW 2006
Email for correspondence: corinne.mulley@sydney.edu.au
Publication website: http://www.patrec.org/atrf.aspx
To read the whole paper Click Here

Closing The Transport Gap - CPSA

The Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association of NSW has released a report called "Closing The Transport Gap". This report is about the difficulties that some people are facing to use the mainstream public transport services. It particularly addresses the issue that, for some people, the bus stop is too far away or too difficult to get to.
Read the report here

New Taxis On Road

NSW Government is issuing an additional 167 taxi licences by Christmas as part of taxi reforms that aim to ensure the size of the taxi fleet is able to meet passenger demand.

Here is an excerpt from the Transport Minister's Media release:

“29 of the 167 extra taxis have already been placed into service, with a further 98 taxi plates being reserved from the RTA and vehicle fit-out letters issued, meaning even more of the new taxis will be on Sydney’s streets within weeks.
“We expect all of these extra taxis to be on the road for Christmas, which aims to make it easier for Sydneysiders to get home during the festive season.
“Importantly, 90 of the 167 new licences were reserved for current taxi drivers seeking to become their own boss – so the plates will go to people who know the business well and who know the high level of service passengers expect,” said the Minister.

There are already 100 additional taxis operating on Sydney’s streets since the start of this year. There were also 58 wheelchair accessible taxis added to the network in 2009-10. New taxi plates are released each financial year, as part of the NSW Government’s taxi reforms that started in December 2009.

Transport Minister in Parliamentary Estimates Committee

Story from Action for Public Transport
Monday 20 September 2010

Topics of Interest:
* Project Cost Estimates
* Free shuttle buses
* Metrobus
* Gov't to retain CBD metro properties
* No MyZone etc. on LRT
* Funding of Parramatta-Epping railway
* Round in circles on LRT tickets
* Western Express, CBD Relief and Parramatta-Epping railways
* LRT sleepers

The hearings have prompted APT to ask the Prime Minister and the NSW Premier to have their respective transport advisory bodies make late submissions to the NSW government's Metropolitan Strategy Review, currently due for release in November 2010.

Click here for the full story and a link to the Estimates Committee transcript.

'Bus Manners' Survey in Liverpool

Liverpool Transport Taskforce is a community advocacy group working to improve public transport for people in Liverpool, NSW. In October 2010 we surveyed people about what manners are good to use on the bus.

With the roll-out of the new low-floor buses in New South Wales there is better access to the buses for people in wheelchairs, people with babies and prams and older people or people with mobility difficulties. But who gets priority in the wide space at the front of the buses, and how is it decided when you are on the bus? Do people usually move for people who need that space or is it a battle to be able to access the bus? Read the report attached here and watch our youtube video of the survey.

Read a report from the survey: Click here

Grow The Western Region - Workshop

FROGS - 10,000 Friends of Greater Sydney
GROW THE WESTERN REGION - Q & A WORKSHOP
22 Nov 2010 at Parramatta Leagues Club, 9am.

The Format of this is new and we hope to get some practical and down to earth ideas to implement in the near term.

For more information click here

New Oscar Trains

This article below is from the NSW Premier's email newsletter. To subscribe to that newsletter email here: lee.bellia@premier.nsw.gov.au

New OSCAR trains right on track
The first set of 74 new OSCAR carriages has been delivered five weeks ahead of schedule and will be rolled into service over bthe coming weeks. The NSW Government has already delivered 122 OSCARs, providing outer suburban commuters with more seats and more airconditioned services. The new OSCARs will help provide improved services as part of the new timetable for the Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra Line, which begins on October 10. The new timetable will use the improved capacity on the Cronulla branch line to provide more than 300 extra train services a week for local commuters.

Premier's news page

Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics

This Commonwealth department provides lots of good information about transport and development issues. They also sponsor the Australasian Transport Research Forum.
http://www.bitre.gov.au/

Transport NSW Newsletter - Sept 2010

Inside the Newsletter...
* Metrobus Expansion
* Sydney’s First GreenWay Along Light Rail Extension
* Coopernook To Herons Creek Upgrade Open To Traffic
* 167 Extra Taxis On The Road
* Burwood Station Upgrade Completed
* Track Laid On Richmond Line Duplication
* Bega Bypass Project
* $7 Billion For Transport In 2010-11 State Budget
* Epping To Chatswood Rail Link Stations Win Top Architecture Award

Click Here