Announcement of New Bus Contracts

This could be very important for people in Greater Western Sydney.

Transport for NSW has announced the successful tenders for the bus contracts in several regions including Region 1 (Penrith to Blacktown) and Region 3 (Liverpool, Fairfield, Holroyd).

Busways was successful for Region 1 and Transit Systems Australia was successful in Region 3. Busways www.busways.com.au is well known to people in Region 1 but the other existing service providers, Westbus and Hawkesbury Valley Buses, appear to have missed out on contracts in Region 1.

The new contract for Region 3 has gone to Transit Systems Australia. They seems to be a new business in Western Sydney http://www.transitsystems.com.au/overview . Previously Region 3 was operated by a consortium of MetroLink, Busabout, Hopkinsons and Westbus. It's unknown what will happen with those businesses. http://www.a3mc.com.au/

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/new-bus-contracts-benefit-customers-and-taxpayers

Filling In 'The Gap' - SMH

The Sydney Morning Herald ran a story this week about the difficulties some people in Sydney face while trying to access the bus system.

People associated with WSPTU groups in Mt Druitt and Bankstown are in the story.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/for-many-public-transport-is-now-a-private-hell-20121110-294wx.html

The Sydney Alliance has created maps showing where services aren't available within 400 metres and with a frequency of 15 minutes. The Sydney Alliance have created a formula for quality services: 400:15:1 SCAA.  This means 400 metres to the nearest stop, every 15 minutes, available on 1 ticket, safe, clean, accessible and affordable.

Here is a story in the SMH about how people could be linked to high-frequency services through the use of local-level 'feeder' services and 'flexible' transport services. Prof Corrine Mulley from the Institute of Transport and Logistics at Sydney Uni is quoted. Professor Mulley has presented at the WSPTU Symposium.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/linking-services-vital-to-get-the-city-moving-20121111-296h0.html

New Transport Masterplan and Consultations

Here is an excerpt from the recent media release from the Ministers:
Transport planning forums will be held across NSW to ensure customers, businesses and other organisations can have their say on the future of transport in NSW. Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Roads and Ports Duncan Gay today announced the development of a Long Term Transport Master Plan which will involve unprecedented collaboration with those whose livelihood depends on the quality of the transport network - customers.

They confirmed 10 regions outside of Sydney will each host at least one forum where key stakeholders will be consulted by Transport for NSW as part of the 12-month process to develop a NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan.

Consultations will also be held in Sydney.

The forums will be held after the release of a discussion paper in February and the feedback gained will be used to inform development of a draft NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan.

Local groups involved with the WSPTU will be interested to find out more about those consultations.

You can find the full release here.

Competing Public Transport Policies

The Steering Committee of the WSPTU met last week. One of the matters discussed was how to evaluate the competing rail policies which have been proposed by the different polical parties. These policies include the Western Express, the North West and South West Rail Links and the Epping to Parramatta Rail Link.

The Policy Forum of the WSPTU is meeting on Saturday Feb 5th so the committee is currently gathering information from the political parties about these proposals and asking for advice from some technical experts. Hopefully this will enable the WSPTU to advise it's member groups and make some public positions available before the State Election.

WSPTU currently has 3 policy positions published (click here).

For other information from local groups check the links on the left of this page.

Safe Alternative Transport (SAT) for Young People

Youth Safe have released a report describing the Safe Alternative Transport (SAT) schemes that are running in New South Wales. They also provide advice and tips for people who are thinking about running a SAT scheme.

These schemes are primarily focussed on getting young people home after social events and are particularly helpful in outer metropolitan and rural areas. There are two main target groups; school-aged young people getting home from officially sanctioned events, such as a youth centre event, and over-18 year olds who are needing to get home from the city or towns after a night of socialising at licenced premisis.

A video produced by Youth Safe showed the experiences of young people, after a night, out trying to get home during the 'dead-zone' time between midnight and 5am. The video reminded us of how dangerous this can be for young people and the risks that they take to get home.

There are a number of projects that are now being supported by local 'Liquor Accord' groups. These Liquor Accord groups are usually comprised of local licenced venue operators, local police, local council and local community sector organsations.

To look at the report go here: http://www.youthsafe.org/alternative-safe-transport.html