Interesting Parking at Bankstown Station

Commuting by Public Transport - Less Stress - Sydney Morning Herald

Here is a story from the Sydney Morning Herald regarding  commuting by car can produce health risks to women:

Click here for story

Is this Public Transport Advertising Really Public Transport Advertising? - Parramatta Train Station

 

Today I spotted this at Parramatta Train Station and I thought it would bring a laugh or two - It was a rolling Advertisement.

Will The North West Rail Link Be Operated By The Private Sector?

The Hills Transport Working Group have made a media release regarding the privatisation of the North West Rail Link. Here's an excerpt:

The Hills Transport Working Group today issued a ‘please explain’ to the NSW Minister for Transport, Ms Gladys Berejiklian, after a leaked internal memo from Mr. Rob Mason the CEO of RailCorp reveals that “a private sector entity will design, construct, commission, operate and maintain the North West rail link including rail and tunnel systems, track, structures and stations for a period of 20 to 30 years” under an “access model”.

The Hills Transport Working Group has previously warned that an airport link-style private operator and station access model on the North West Rail Link could see North West residents paying as much as $20 extra per trip.

For the full release click here.

Wrong Report About Rail Crime Stats

This media release is from the Bureau of Crime Statistics. Media release date: 13 December 2011.

Claims last night by Channel Nine that up to 10 per cent of reports of crime on the rail system are simply ‘disappearing’ are completely false, the Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research said today.

“Police are fully entitled to reject a reported crime if they have reason to believe the report is not genuine (e.g. CCTV footage shows the alleged incident did not take place).”

“The Bureau conducts regular audits of all NSW Police crime data, looking for any evidence that police are improperly rejecting crimes reported to them. The results of these audits are always made public. Click here for the most recent audit findings and our audit processes.

“When Channel Nine’s Kelvin Bissett contacted the Bureau seeking information on crimes on the rail system rejected by police, he was provided with data showing that the overall rejection rate for crimes reported on the rail system was just 3.3 percent.”

“The rejection rate for sexual assault was much higher (15 per cent) but the numbers were quite small; three reports being rejected out of a total of 20 for the entire year.”

“Channel Nine ignored all this and proceeded to make completely unfounded
allegations to the effect that records of crime on the rail system reported to police were being hidden or destroyed.”

“There was and is no evidence that police have been hiding or destroying reports of crime to make the problem of crime on the rail system appear less serious than it is. The story on rail violence by Channel Nine was an example of tabloid journalism at its worst.”

Don Weatherburn

Local Success - Return of Bus in North St Marys

Some local people in North St Marys have worked hard to convince planners and transport providers that they needed an additional service in North St Marys to ensure they were getting adequate access to their local buses. It is a big win for local people who were having trouble using the buses after the changes brought by the bus network review a couple of years ago.
"We've had a letter box drop telling us that we're going to get a bus back commencing 21 December along the same route as before.It'll be the 782E," says local campaigner Patricia Guy.
Click here for the full story.

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.

North West Rail Link - Updates

There has been some public discussions this week about the North West Rail Link after the Chairman of Infrastructure NSW, Nick Greiner, suggested that maybe the project should be a privately funded project. Click here for the story in the SMH

The local newspaper, The Hills News, then ran local vox-pops (asking people on the street) what they thought of this idea. Click here to see what they said.

The Sydney Business Park development manager Owen Walsh was then quoted by the Hills Shire Times as advocating for the North West Rail Link to be extended out through Schofields to the new Marsden Park industrial development near Mt Druitt (part of the North West Growth Centre). He also suggested the line could then join into the Western Line via Dunheaved and St Marys using the existing old trainline corridor. See that story here.

Adelaide's Free Shuttle Bus - Solar Powered!

A colleague visited Adelaide and sent this picture of the free solar-powered shuttle bus. For all the details click here

Update on Warwick Farm Carpark

Here are some comments from WSPTU bloggers regarding the Warwick Farm CityRail Commuter Carpark. Note that this commenter tells us you can be fined for not parking in the correct spaces in the carpark. It is worth noting that the Liverpool Hospital is improving parking and access for staff at the hospital so that may reduce pressure on the Commuter Carpark.

Comments:

Anonymous said...
With this car park so close the Liverpool Hospital and free. I expect most of the car spots to be taken up by hospital staff members. It's already hard to find parking near the hospital and the hospital has expanded. So unfortunately, get there early to find parking in this new car park because I think by about 8.30am, all spots will be taken.

February 22, 2011 3:20 PM
Anonymous said...
Spend a fortune on a car park to a station they have reduced peak hour afternoon services to , make you get of at cabramatta or liverpool and backtrack, the train stops at every station from the city except warwick farm.

March 2, 2011 3:13 PM
Anonymous said...
As every spot was taken outside the carpark where I usually park I ventured into the new multi storey free one. Had to go to top floor where there were still no spaces but cars were parking along one side of the one way lanes and we assumed this was OK as it is a free carpark and no lanes were blocked.
I received a fine as did the other cars in the aisles, they have SDRO on them. Any way I can appeal.

November 17, 2011 7:29 PM

Lidcombe Turnback Now Operating

It was interesting to see the Lidcombe turnback operating. This allows additional services to come in from the South Line and the Western Line without continuing on into the city.
As you can see from the photo, some of the signage is still a bit temporary to help people with the new platform.

Ooops. Shunting Crash In Train Yards

Daily Telegraph

Minister Announces Change to Penrith Shuttle Bus Route

This is great news for Sue Day and the people in the South Penrith Residents Action Group who have been asking for a change to the Shuttle route to make it more useful for local people.
http://www.westernweekender.com.au/index.php/local-news-content/134-shuttle-bus-re-route

Excess Demand on the T80 Bus Transitway Service Into Parramatta

This comment from the WSPTU Facebook group:
Something has to be done about the number of buses running on the T80 during the morning peak. I feel sorry for all the commuters that have to either stand for the entire journey or watch one full bus after another travel past their stop!

New NCOSS Transport Newsletter - "Interchange"

The Council of Social Services NSW (NCOSS) has started a new transport newsletter called Interchange. The first edition has an interesting article about changes to the way in which people can pay their transport fines and a report from the National Transport Commission conference.
Interchange
We will archive the link to Interchange on our Transport Links menu on the left of this page.

NSW Budget 2011/12

The NSW Budget was delivered this week and was the first budget since the change of Government last March. Here are the transport highlights taken from the Budget papers:
Rail Services
$314 million to develop the 23-kilometre North West Rail Link
$292 million to continue the $2.1 billion South West Rail Link
$103 million to expand light rail in central Sydney and the inner west, integrating it with other forms of transport
$51 million to start building the Wynyard Walk
$159 million for the Country Regional Network
$198 million for the Rail Clearways Program
$106 million to improve infrastructure to meet the needs of new Waratah trains
$152 million to buy and upgrade rollingstock
$7.5 million for a new program to boost Easy Access upgrades and $22.5 million on programmed Easy Access station upgrades
$16.9 million as part of an increased commitment to spend $40 million over four years for Park and Travel Safety improvements
$102 million over four years to provide more express rail services
$2 million to conduct a study of North Coast rail services.
Bus Services
purchase 261 new buses, worth $118.8 million
$45 million for new bus depots
$7.6 million over four years to increase Nightride bus services
$9.2 million over four years to continue support for free bus services
$3 million for studies into a bus rapid transit system for the northern beaches.
Ferry Services
continuing the Fixing Sydney Ferries program, by franchising Sydney Ferries, restoring and expanding services, upgrading wharves and looking at fleet replacement an additional $7.5 million over four years to improve ferry wharves.
Transport Interchanges and Commuter Car Parks
$76 million on interchanges and car parks.
Ticketing, Concessions and Community Transport
$110 million to deliver a fast, convenient and integrated electronic ticketing system for greater Sydney
providing concession schemes for pensioners, tertiary students, people with disabilities and others using public transport, estimated at $438 million
subsidising travel under the School Student Transport Scheme, estimated at $550 million
an extra $12 million over four years to boost community transport services
$1.6 million over four years to deliver free seniors’ photo cards to eligible Seniors Card holders and older people receiving a disability support pension.
You can find a link to the budget overview here . And for the keen people a link to all the budget papers here.
WSPTU will provide some commentary over the next few weeks.

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 - 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!

Annoyed Commuter Re Job Seeker Concessions

Posted by an Anonymous WSPTU reader:
Dear Public Transport Folk,
This comment relates to an academic, who was in the paper yesterday, saying unemployed people should not be allowed to have access to free train fares during the peak time. Boy, what planet are these people on? She's probably never been unemployed in her life. The unemployed need access to free transport during peaK times SO THEY CAN GET TO JOB INTERVIEWS.Fares are too much for job seekers who get no concessions. Also they get taken off benefits if they miss too many appointments.

More Roads May Pave The Way To More Traffic

This is a fantastic story on NPR radio in response to a $1b road widening program in Los Angeles taking the Highway 405 from 10-lanes wide to 12 lanes. Siting worldwide research done by academics in Toronto the program discusses the idea that as you increase the number of roads in a city you increase the amount of driving. Another interesting issue raised is the idea that providing public transport DOES NOT reduce the amount of driving. Only reducing the amount of road space or increasing the cost of driving will do that.
Click here to read or hear the story.