Transport for NSW (Transport) is celebrating a major milestone for one of its public transport services, with the Southwest Link officially carrying one million passengers since September 30 this year.
The Southwest Link bus service is being delivered by transport to provide a valuable connection in Sydney during Metro upgrades.
Transport coordinator-general Howard Collins says his team has been monitoring the fare-free service and is pleased it’s delivering a reliable connection for the community.
“On weekdays, we have seen around 35,000 commuters board one of our Southwest Link buses, and we want to thank commuters for adapting to the new service and making the most of the fare free buses,” he says.
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“Key interchanges such as Sydenham and Bankstown are the main hubs as we expected, but the flow on to the buses has been swift.
“We worked hard to deliver a range of effective transport solutions for southwest Sydney commuters following the closure of the T3 Bankstown line for final metro conversion.
“We implemented a timetable aimed at delivering a service every 2-4 minutes during the peaks, made the replacement bus service fare free, had street teams on the ground and ensured the communities that relied on the T3 line had the option of all-stop and express services.”
While Collins knows this has still been disruptive to passengers, with there potentially being busy queues for people waiting for buses and longer travel times during peak periods, leading to him thanking the community for their patience.
Southwest Link is a key part of an integrated transport plan, created to help the tens of thousands of impacted commuters move around during the final T3 metro conversion.
“On Saturday 19 October we started running the new T6 Lidcombe & Bankstown train line which gave commuters from Bankstown travelling to the city an option to get the train via Lidcombe, we also fast tracked the 1.4km walking and cycling path between Marrickville and Sydenham,” Collins says.
“When the Southwest metro conversion is complete, passengers will have access to a high-tech metro line with a train every 4 minutes during the peak, along with fully accessible stations and services.”
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