The New South Wales government has announced its budget for 2025/26, and the bus industry is a major winner.
Prior to the NSW budget being handed down this week, the state government hinted it would address rising demand for more bus services across Sydney and regional NSW.
It has delivered, with an additional $452 million provided in the budget to increase the number of bus services around the state while also accelerating the roll-out of new buses on the road.
The funding will also meet rising costs for local bus operators across the state, with the investment to continue working on building better connected communities by creating new bus routes, expanding existing and reinstating bus routes that were slashed by the former government.
“We have heard the message loud and clear that more buses and more bus services are needed in Sydney and regional NSW. This $150 million additional investment delivers on both counts,” NSW transport minister John Graham says.
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“We are providing new and expanded services, as well as more school bus services, in the fastest growing regions of our state where often housing has outpaced the provision of public transport.”
To address what the state government calls a “chronic shortage” on some of Sydney’s busiest existing routes, $56 million will be spent on 50 new articulated or ‘bendy’ buses to address capacity shortages in areas where passengers are “currently spending too much time waiting to just get on a bus”.
The state government says the former Coalition government didn’t buy a single bendy bus during its 12 years in office, with the current government vowing to provide buses that serve the likes of Ryde, Epping, Lane Cove, the Eastern Suburbs and the Northern Beaches.
When it comes to bus manufacturing procurement, the state government has committed to rebuilding domestic manufacturing, saying the former government preferred to buy trains, buses and ferries straight off the shelf overseas.
“As a result, rebuilding local manufacturing will take time, and after years of maintenance neglect and underinvestment in public transport, our priority is to get new buses on the road as fast as possible to support growing communities,” the state government says.
“The 50 bendy buses, made by Scania-Volgren, will begin their life in Malaysia, but meet the government’s target of 50 per cent local content as the bodies will be built domestically in Australia.”
For the state’s bus network, $150 million will provide more regular school bus services in Sydney’s fast-growing outer suburbs and in regional locations where transport infrastructure has lagged housing development.
“This budget puts regional communities at the heart of transport planning. We’re not just putting buses on roads, we’re building stronger, better-connected communities across regional NSW,” NSW regional transport and roads minister Jenny Aitchison says.
“This investment delivers new weekend services, better connections to essential services and cross-border links that will keep regional NSW moving.”
A $26 million spend will ensure new buses are ready to deliver extra routes on expanded timetables in areas like south-west Sydney, north-west Sydney, Illawarra, the Central Coast, the South Coast and the Hunter.
A new route will connect the growing community at Macarthur Heights to Macarthur Station, with services to be introduced for the first time between Wilton and Campbelltown to support new housing growth. Service improvements will also see more frequent buses running between Liverpool and Parramatta, as well as between Rouse Hill and Parramatta.
The M52 bus route between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD via the Ryde area will also be reinstated after the former government cut the route in 2021. The 500X service will be expanded to Parramatta to restore this connection as the state government looks at ways to better connect buses to the state’s rail system.
In regional areas, investments in bus services will see connections for essential workers with regional health facilities, new weekend services in a number of regional centres, cross-border connectivity with Queensland and Victoria and improved school bus services.
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