Bus Contracts Up For Renewal

Sydney's buses are provided through a contracting arrangement between Transport for NSW and the bus service operators. The contracts for each bus region are again coming up for renewal.

You can find a Sydney Morning Herald story about this here.

At this stage, WSPTU is not aware of any public consultation processes (apart from the customer satisfaction survey) that are being undertaken to support the process of renewing the bus contracts. The usual way for the public to make a comment about their bus services is through the 131500 service on the phone or the website.

You can find a full list of the contracted, privately-owned, bus companies from the 131500 website here and the State Transit Authority (STA) here.

You can download a copy of the Service Planning Guidelines here.

You can find the latest Metropolitan Buses Customer Satisfaction Survey for 2010 here.

You can download a useful resource about the provision of bus services in Western Sydney from Western Sydney Community Forum: "Connecting With Buses".

You can read the report from the NSW Auditor General about the measurement of bus contract performance here.

New Free Shuttle - The Harris Park Hop - in Parramatta

Parramatta Council is running a 3-month trial of a new free shuttle between the Parramatta business district and Harris Park.
http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/live/my_home/parking__and__transport/harris_park_hop

WSPTU AGM on Saturday September 10.

This will be the first WSPTU AGM. We will be asking local groups to affiliate with the WSPTU and to put representatives on the Steering Committee and the Policy Forum. Local groups need to show that they really are a local group working on local residents issues, including transport. The office bearers for the Steering Committee will be decided at the first Steering Committee meeting. There are limits on the terms that a person can be an office bearer of the WSPTU so we need people to step up! At this stage there are no fees or charges for affiliating with the WSPTU.
For all the details look at the WSPTU constitution in the 'Who Is The WSPTU' section on this WSPTU blog. If you are interested to attend email wsbustop@gmail.com or phone 0466 893 480 and leave a message.

Transport Symposium 2011

We had a great day to all involved in the Transport Symposium 2011. Many thanks to all those who made a contribution. We learned a lot and it was great to see everyone again. It's likely that the WSPTU and the local WSPTU transport groups will want to have things to say about the topics covered at the Symposium in the near future(the topics are listed in the previous post).

Sue Day addresses the Symposium during one of the sessions

Last Chance to Register for the Transport Symposium Tomorrow

There are only 5 places left for the WSPTU Transport Symposium which is on tomorrow at the Dooley's Club in Lidcome, tomorrow, Saturday August 13 from 10.30 to 4pm.

Guest Speakers:
Professor Corinne Mulley - Institute of Transport and Logistics
David Borger - Former Minister for Roads and Lord Mayor of Parramatta
Stuart Palmer - Premier Cabs
Amy Williams - Sydney Alliance
Philippa Vale - South West Community Transport

The headline topics are:
Free Shuttle Buses - are they useful and how can people contribute to their evaluation?
Shared Taxis - can shared taxis be used as part of the public transport mix?

Plus the opportunity to meet local people who are interested to improve public transport in their local area. Register now, it's free!

WSPTU Symposium - More Details On Public Public Transport

Check out this story  from the Mount Druitt - St Marys Standard, further info:
http://mountdruittcommuters.blogspot.com/2011/08/understanding-of-transport-system-wsptu.html

Transport options 'don't work'

By Gemma Seymor, 10 Aug, 2011 12:00 AM

THE location of Saturday's western Sydney transport symposium is close to public transport links, at the junction of the south, south-west, west and Richmond train lines.

It's ironic, then, that getting to the Lidcombe venue from Penrith by public transport also highlights missing links.

Sue Day, of the South Penrith Residents Action Group, who is also a member of the Western Sydney Public Transport Users' steering committee, said connections needed to be improved.

She said if someone wanted to get from Glenmore Park, for example, to Penrith railway station by bus on a weekend then "it's quicker by car — put it that way". "That's where the local transport system isn't really working for us," Mrs Day said.

"Connections don't work."

The Western Sydney Public Transport Users symposium presents an opportunity for residents to have a say about what they see as their transport needs.

The organisation is an umbrella one which supports the work of local transport-user groups and action groups.

Groups from areas such as Penrith, Mount Druitt and Parramatta will be taking part.

Mrs Day said that the forum would help commuters understand how they could work to improve public transport for their community.

After the forum the organisation would form policies so they could lobby collectively, Mrs Day said.

Among the topics to be discussed at the forum would be free shuttle buses. "Ours is not working," Mrs Day said. "No one's using it."

She said it wasn't servicing where people needed to go, pointing out that the government-funded shuttle didn't stop at the library, near the Aldi store on High Street nor at Nepean Hospital.

It's on Saturday, August 13, from 10.30am to 4pm, at the Dooleys Club.

Details, registration: wsbustop@gmail.com or 9633 5068. People who have difficulty getting to the venue can request transport or call Sue, 0411 395 363.

How Are We Going To Cope With Increased Working Population With Future Public Transport??

Please refer to the following story for an interesting insight as to what is happening recently in parts of Western Sydney:
http://mountdruittcommuters.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-are-we-going-to-cope-for-future.html

Transport Minister Backs Blacktown Free Bus Shuttles - Blacktown City Sun

here is the story from the Blacktown City Sun regarding the new NSW Transport Ministers, Gladys Berejiklian, backing of the Free Bus Shuttles -  please read this story and if you think that there is a need for Free Bus Shuttle  in your shopping hub area contact us,

Minister backs the shuttle bus

02 Aug, 2011 12:00 AM

THE NSW government has pledged to continue to fund the former Labor government's free shuttle bus service in Blacktown, even though some say that too few people use it.

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said the government was committed to public transport.

Ms Berejeklian said the government would continue to fund free shuttle bus services for as long as people used them.

She was responding to residents who are concerned with what they say is an under-used bus service that the then transport minister, John Robertson, introduced just before the state election.

Blacktown Healthwise Seniors Centre president Raya Wilkinson welcomed the news that the bus service would stay. Ms Wilkinson said members of the centre were using the bus to go to the hospital, station, Centrelink and shopping centre.

A spokeswoman for NSW Transport said the Blacktown free shuttle bus was carrying about 1400 passengers a week.

She said the total annual funding for the Blacktown, Campbelltown, Liverpool, Cabramatta, Bankstown, Penrith, Gosford, Kogarah, Newcastle and Parramatta shuttles was $3.6 million.

"Individual figures for Blacktown cannot be provided for commercial reasons," she said.

But resident Mary Jones, who wants the service abolished, said she couldn't believe that 1400 people were using the bus every week.

"I often see the buses empty when they pass where I work," she said. "The money saved could be used for better things."

Have a look at a blog that shows you some patronage figures from  Blacktown Free Shuttle Bus - it is available to the public - it is not a big secret as I found out!



Click here:http://mountdruittcommuters.blogspot.com/2011/07/shhhhhhh-we-know-about-blacktown-free.html

WSPTU - public forum group on Facebook

The WSPTU has created a public forum group you can join and participate in. We're on Facebook here:
Western Sydney Public Transport Users Public Forum

If you've got anything to say, or want to join in with the discussion, please do! It will be great to hear about your public transport experiences. And don't forget to talk about the good things too!

Bright Signs For Free Bus Shuttle Buses - Great Concept!

Free travel to see the Parramatta Eels against the Storm - these signs could be used to advertise other local Sydney and Greater Western Sydney Bus Shuttles, as follows;