Plans for bus exchange a long time coming

The Sydney Morning Herald today reportsthat plans outlined in the recently released Transport Masterplan to turn around thousands of bus commuters at the edges of Sydney’s CBD remain some years away. The Masterplan states:

A redesign of the bus network will focus on Sydney CBD. The reconfigured bus network will be planned around the principles of ‘near-side’ termination and some through-routing, rather than ‘far-side’ termination. Instead of the current arrangement under which many bus routes enter the CBD, travel through and terminate at the opposite side of the CBD, creating congestion and layover challenges, the future network will see additional cross-city Metrobus-style routes that traverse the CBD, terminating at destinations beyond. Local routes will terminate just inside the CBD (the ‘near side’), allowing passengers to connect to other high-capacity modes such as rail or light rail, or to walk a short distance to their final destination. This more efficient use of Sydney’s bus fleet will result in more frequent, more reliable journeys for bus customers and relieve congestion for pedestrians, cyclists and other road users. 

As we have said – it’s great to see the government looking at possibilities for improving bus services and reducing the time drivers spend on congested CBD streets. But how long do we have to wait for some action?