New Schofields Station and More Trains and Buses.

For all those people who have been catching buses instead of trains for quite a while now, here's some good news ...

Taken from 131500.com.au:

A new station has been built at Schofields as part of the Quakers Hill to Schofields Duplication project and will open on Saturday 29 October 2011.

Customers at Schofields will have access to more frequent services with all trains to and from Richmond stopping at Schofields, and most peak City services that currently start/terminate at Quakers Hill starting/terminating at Schofields. There are 42 additional services per week, including eight extra services to or from the city and an additional service on Saturdays and Sundays.

The T74 bus service (currently Blacktown to the Ponds) will be extended to operate between Riverstone and Blacktown via the new Schofields Station, Stanhope Gardens and Parklea Markets. These services will operate 7 days a week, running every 30 minutes on weekdays and hourly on weekends.

The T-way timetables T70-T75 have also changed by up to 15 minutes with the introduction of the new T74.

Click here for the full story.
For a full description and photos of the project click here.

Blake's Region 1 Masterplan - Check it out!

here is Blake again thinking of the future - revised bus services in Region 1:
http://mountdruittcommuters.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-region-1-masterplan.html

I like it and am impressed because this plan covers areas not covered before and would promote more community members to catch buses/public transport - please feel free to leave your comments

Sydney Alliance Transport Assembly- In Penrith!

WSPTU IS INVITED TO THE
SYDNEY ALLIANCE TRANSPORT ASSEMBLY

http://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/sydney-alliance-transport-assembly-17-november/

6:30pm-8pm November 17th 2011
Q Theatre
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre
597 High Street, Penrith

For far too long Sydney’s public transport has been a problem.
It’s broken – now is the time to fix it!
The people of Sydney know what they want from their transport system.
Now is our chance to get the ball rolling to fix public transport for Sydney.

Our Vision is:
“400:15:1+SCA2”
Public transport should be within 400 metres

It should come every 15 minutes
It should only require 1 ticket

It should be Safe, Clean, Accessible and Affordable

Race a Pollie: On Nov 17th hop on train and race politicians & others using public transport from your local area to Penrith station. Put them & the system to the test!

Be part of a public discussion: with leading decision makers on how we can all work together to make our vision of better public transport a reality.

Share your ideas, stories & point of view: with people from all over Sydney who are committed to a shared vision of bringing about a world class, sensible transport system for our city.

Let's make sure that WSPTU is a part of this important event.

Contact Amy Williams on amyw@wscf.org.au if you have any questions, including questions or concerns about the $10 food fee.

Register online for this important event:
http://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/sydney-alliance-transport-assembly-17-november/

Funny Thing That Commuters Leave On Buses!

Well here is a Story Wayne Lu has published which represent a true picture of what actually happened on a Westbus 780 on 8/10/11 on the way home. I witnessed it as I sat next to him. Great story Wayne!

http://mountdruittcommuters.blogspot.com/2011/10/westbus-furniture-removal.html

Bus Manufacturer To Concentrate On Electric Buses

Here is an edited extract from today's Daily Telegraph:

ONE of Australia's largest bus manufacturers ... believes fully electric buses are the future.

The Perth-based company, BCI, has established a new bus depot at Milperra in Sydney's south-west, and a new $200 million joint venture in east China to manufacture fully electric buses.

BCI spokeswoman Michelle Nazzari said, "While hybrid was a great stepping stone toward electric vehicles, we believe full electric technology is the future, and we have embarked on a push toward it and all our research and development is now directed at it."

Full story.

Ooops. Shunting Crash In Train Yards

Daily Telegraph

Train Timetable Changes 2011!

Here is  a blog that can show you the new Changes to the CityRail Timetable commencing as from 23rd October 2011:

http://mountdruittcommuters.blogspot.com/2011/10/train-timetable-changes-for-2012.html

'Go Catch' Taxis With NEW Possible Technology To Make It Easier For Both Commuters And Drivers!

I just caught a story on ABC TV Tonight a story on NSW Stateline  - Check the video story on the ABC website:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-07/new-app-challenges-vested-taxi-interests/3352802

Also checkout the 'Go Catch' website as well:
http://www.gocatchapp.com.au/

We will appreciate any or all comments on this issue - I'm sure this will be  a transport subject to talk about over dinner!

Safety Switches from Trains to Train Station Barriers!

A  New South Wales Transport officer has advised today of what is happening with State Transit Officers.

That is, currently City Rail Transit officers have  mostly been asked to spend more time on train station barriers rather than spending more time looking after revenue offenders and safety on trains. This is come from directions from their superiors.

There are also rumours floating around that their jobs will be replaced by the New South Wales Police. Yet 12 years ago a similar situation happen and as time went by the Police officers on trains were called out to urgent community safety duties and the State Transit officers came back on board!

My question would be, 'Who would replace the New South Wales Police Officers that come off community duty to then do their duty on trains?'

So which protection on public transport would you like?

Commuters Should Have a Say In New Plans - Opinion SMH

Jacob Saulwick, in his opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald today, advocates that commuters should be involved in the discussion about the new plans for CityRail and public transport in general. WSPTU supports this view.

"But this debate should be aired in public, and fostered by the government. Sydney residents would be better off if they were treated like adults, and allowed to consider the various options for improving the city's transport system, instead of being fed another plan."

Commuters Kept In Dark For Too Long - SMH

New Train System Being Considered - SMH

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald today, based on cabinet documents, suggests that the transport bureaucracy are preparing a series of alternative strategies to remake the CityRail Network. One of these strategies involves developing some of the existing system as a Metro system.
SMH - Paris-style Train Plan For City

One Day Course: Understanding Bus Planning

The aim of this one-day course on network planning is to better understand the principles of bus network planning, guidelines for planning in NSW, and trade-offs in planning bus networks. The course will benefit state government planners, local government, bus operators, and community representatives. The course is presented by Professor Corinne Mulley and Dr Rhonda Daniels from ITLS and Clayton Davidson from Busways.
Friday October 28, Newtown, Sydney, $200.

http://sydney.edu.au/business/itls/courses/public_transport_short_courses

No Increase In Train Services For People Of The South West

While the announcement of additional public transport services is welcome it is noticeable that there are no increases to the Cumberland Line or any of the other train lines - the South Line or the Bankstown Line - in the South West.
And while the commitments to make these changes is the follow-through on election commitments, the Minister did have things to say about the Cumberland Line to the people of Liverpool. In November 2010 Minister Berejiklian said;
``I think it’s really sad and very frustrating for consumers that they have fewer services now on the Cumberland line than they did in 2004,’’ Ms Berejiklian said. ``It’s unacceptable in a region of Sydney that’s increasing in growth.’ (see WSPTU blog entry http://wsptu.blogspot.com/2010/12/opposition-responds-to-wsptu-request.html).
It is a long-standing policy position held by the WSPTU that the Cumberland Line should be better used and promoted.

NSW Govt Adding New Public Transport Services To The Timetable

The Minister for Transport announced today changes to the public transport timetables which include 63 extra rail services each week, 91 additional NightRide bus services and 165 more ferry services.
Western Sydney gets an additional 20 rail services on the Western Line and 8 additional services to the Blue Mountains on the weekend as well as 30 additional Nightride bus services and 25 additional ferry services into Parramatta.
South Western Sydney gets an additional 25 Nightride services.
You can find the full media release from the Minister here.
And the new timetables, due to start from Oct 23, here.