Buses In Sydney

The network initially evolved from a privately operated system of feeder services to railway stations in the outer suburbs, and a publicly operated network of bus services introduced to replace trams in the inner suburbs. The bus network has undergone major reforms since the 2000s–2010s, with the New South Wales Government taking responsibility for route and fare-setting, opening contracts for most routes up to competitive tendering, and introducing more cross-suburban services.

Buses in Sydney
A State Transit Scania K280UB
Roundel
Overview
Owner	Transport for NSW
Locale	Greater Sydney
Transit type	Bus / Bus rapid transit
Annual ridership	229.5 million in 2019–20
Website	transportnsw.info
Operation
Began operation	1905
Operator(s)	Busways CDC NSW Keolis Downer Northern Beaches Transdev John Holland Transit Systems U-Go Mobility

The New South Wales Government's transport authority, Transport for NSW, administers the various bus networks in Sydney.

• Commuter bus services including Metrobus, B-Line and On Demand routes.
• NightRide, a network of train replacement services that operates each night between midnight and 5am.
• Bus only lanes and roadways associated with the Liverpool–Parramatta T-way and North-West T-way.
• Sydney Olympic Park bus routes, a network of nine routes used to convey passengers to major events at the precinct.
• School buses.

The networks, except the Olympic Park and On Demand routes, are part of Transport for NSW's Opal ticketing system.

Commuter and school services are assigned to one of 14 contract regions. In the 2019-20 financial year, 229.5 million passenger journeys were made on services in Sydney's bus contract regions.

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Sydney's public transport network was composed of a suburban railway and inner-city trams, both operated by the New South Wales Government Railways. These were complemented by various privately operated ferry services on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River, and a few horse-drawn services.

The Railways experimented with a steam-powered bus service from Potts Point to Darlinghurst in 1905, but the vehicles quickly proved unsatisfactory and the service was shut down within a year. The city's second bus route ran from Newport, in the north of the Northern Beaches district, to Manly, commencing in 1906. This was operated by the privately owned Manly-Pittwater Motor Omnibus Company. The company did not prosper, however, and the business was wound up in 1908.

The return of servicemen from World War I in the late 1910s provided fresh impetus to the motor omnibus industry. Here, suddenly, were thousands of men with experience working with heavy vehicles – all looking for work. In 1915, only 15 motorised buses were known to operate in Sydney. By 1929, the city's bus fleet numbered more than 600. A private bus industry, dominated by owner-operators and small family businesses, was taking shape.

Seeking to protect the tram system from competition, Premier Jack Lang introduced the Transport Act 1930, which empowered a new Metropolitan Transport Trust to shut down private bus routes that competed with trams, trains or other buses. The Railways were also restructured, with the tram system hived off into a new Department of Road Transport & Tramways in 1932. The Department introduced its first bus service, route 144 from St Leonards to Manly, on Christmas Day of that year.

Lang's reforms established a structure for the bus network that was to endure for close to a century. On the one hand, the Department – forerunner to today's State Transit Authority – began to shut down its trams and build an extensive bus network serving the inner suburbs and Northern Beaches. On the other, the heavily regulated private operators remained small-scale, relegated to the status of feeder services for the Government's trains. But Lang's draconian Transport Act held at least one benefit for the bus companies: just as the trams were protected from them, so too were they protected from new entrants to the industry.

 

 

From trams to buses

Route 144 started as a service in the 1920s connecting trains, trams and ferries. But the Department's focus began to shift inexorably towards building its bus network, starting in 1937 when Kogarah's steam trams were replaced with trolleybuses. Two years later, tram services from Manly were replaced with buses. In 1948, a recommendation was handed to the Department that the entire network be replaced with buses. Though initially controversial, the move to a bus network secured broad political support and was completed between 1957 and 1961. The Department, renamed 'Government Transport' in 1952, became an operator of buses only.

For much of the 20th century, land use planning in Sydney restricted development to corridors within a short distance of the existing railway lines. This discipline broke down in the 1980s, however, when the Wran Government released new areas for development far from existing rail lines. This meant that buses outside of the inner-city, government-operated network, would play an increasing role in meeting Sydney's transport needs.

Lang's model divided the city into hundreds of exclusive fiefdoms and did not allow for cross-regional services. Some private operators responded with joint ventures under the "Red Arrow" brand, agreeing to jointly operate routes between major centres in each other's territories. Some of these routes survive in whole or part today.

Contracts

From 1930 until 1990, private bus companies in Sydney operated as licensed local monopolies, with a relatively free hand to set fares, determine routes, set service levels and choose vehicles. The Greiner Government changed this with the introduction of the Passenger Transport Act 1990. Although the government was loath to challenge the operators' local dominance, it insisted on forming contractual relationships between bus companies and the Department of Transport. These formed the basis for improvements to service standards and – in time – would allow the Government to consolidate the industry and create a truly integrated public transport network. The Government also dismantled one of the shibboleths of the Lang era, allowing Forest Coach Lines and Westbus to run direct services to the City, rather than just the nearest train station. In 1992, an inbound bus lane was installed on the Sydney Harbour Bridge to facilitate the additional services.

Unsworth review

Development in the Hills and Forest districts, far from railway lines, meant that long-distance private bus services poured across the Harbour Bridge to the City each morning. The growth of employment centres outside of the City and inner suburbs, including the growing significance of Parramatta, meant that more and more commuters were making cross-regional, rather than suburb-to-city, trips. Finally, the profusion of bus networks – in 2004, they numbered more than 80 – was confusing to planners and passengers alike. In return for their acceptance of limits to their operations, the small family-owned bus companies had enjoyed immunity from competition themselves. The result was a disparity in fares, vehicles and service quality across Sydney.

The Government commissioned a report into the bus network from former premier Barrie Unsworth. This report, released in 2004, formed a blueprint for major changes to the bus network, including:

• harmonisation of private and State Transit fares
• consolidation of bus regions and competitive tendering for rights to operate
• introduction of new, cross-regional routes.

Consolidation of bus contract regions, from more than 80 to just 15, forced the amalgamation of decades-old bus companies and cleared the way for the entry of players from interstate and overseas.

Starting in October 2008 a number of Metrobus routes were introduced.

Cross-regional connectivity received further boosts with the completion of dedicated T-way networks, between Liverpool and Parramatta and between Parramatta, Blacktown and Rouse Hill.

 

All bus services in Sydney are operated by privately owned bus operators, provided under service contracts between the operators and Transport for NSW. There are 11 contract regions (10 from October 2023), each of which is tied to a geographical area.

Routes

B1 Mona Vale to Sydney CBD

This is a limited stops route operating in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney. It is operated with a dedicated fleet of double deck buses.

T80 Liverpool to Parramatta

This is a bus rapid transit route operating in the south western part of Sydney, mostly along dedicated bus-only roads.

North-West T-way

A variety of routes operate along various sections of this T-Way, including some express services to the CBD.

 

Metrobus routes

Metrobus routes operate in various parts of Sydney. The original Metrobus routes run along major inner city corridors, passing through the Sydney central business district without terminating there. Later routes operate in areas further out from the city centre, connecting major suburban precincts. Metrobus routes are increasingly being debranded into normal routes, with many routes having now lost the M prefix, in case of confusion with metro services.

Other routes

 

Many other routes operate throughout Sydney. Most of these routes are classified with three-digit route numbers based on the area of the city they operate in:

• 100 series – Northern Beaches
• 200 series – Northern Districts and North Shore
• 300 series – Eastern Suburbs
• 400 series – Inner West and Southern Suburbs
• 500 series – North West
• 600 series – Western Suburbs and Hills District (T-way)
• 700 series – Outer Western Suburbs and Hills District (T-way)
• 800 series – Outer South-Western Suburbs
• 900 series – St George/Sutherland and South West

Special services are denoted by letter prefixes in their route number:

• M – Metrobus services (all but two M routes have been renumbered into normal 3-digit numbers as of September 2023)
• B – B-Line services
• BN – B-Line overnight services
• X – Express service used by State Transit (region 9)
• L – Limited Stops service (used by State Transit (regions 9). Other Limited Stops routes use normal three-digit numbers with or without an X suffix)
• T – Services operating, at least for the most part, via a T-Way (only T80 left with those operating on the North-West T-way having been renumbered into normal 3-digit numbers in 2019)
• S – "Shopper Hopper" route (used for some private operators' routes that typically run between morning and afternoon peaks, Monday to Friday only)

Additionally, NightRide services are prefixed with N

Some routes have a suffix to their route numbers instead of a prefix:

• N – Overnight services for the routes concerned with some minor variations (used since 2018)
• X – Express service equivalents for the routes concerned used by CDC NSW (services via Lane Cove Tunnel), Transit Systems (regions 3 and 6), State Transit (region 7, 8 and 9) and two Forest Coach Lines routes in region 14
• Any other letter – Used by some operators to denote the destination of routes with more than two termini. For example, the suffixes W and K are used by Busabout to denote variants of routes 884 and 883 that service Wedderburn and Kentlyn respectively.

State Transit and Transit Systems Region 6 school bus services are suffixed with N (Region 8), S (Region 6), E (Region 9) and W (Region 7). However, bus destinations boards do not show the suffix due to technical limitations.

Rail replacement bus services in Sydney replace or supplement train services, but charge train or metro fares. Ferry replacement bus services also sometimes replace F3 Parramatta River services between Parramatta and Rydalmere when there is low tide.

Station Link

 

From September 2018 to May 2019, Station Link bus services replaced rail services between Chatswood and Epping, while the Epping to Chatswood rail link was converted and upgraded to metro services. The main service SL1, operated frequently throughout the day, stopping at all stops between Chatswood and Epping. The other services SL2–SL7, operated only during weekday peak hours. Fares on these bus routes were charged at train rates. The services were jointly operated by Transdev NSW and Hillsbus.

Two weeks before its cessation, over 4.3 million trips had been taken on Station Link.

North West Night Bus

From 26 May to 5 November 2019, North West Night Bus operated on two supplementary late night bus services, NW1 and NW2, to supplement the Metro North West Line metro operations on Sunday to Wednesday nights. They are successors to the Station Link, which was discontinued due to the opening of Sydney Metro. Metro fares were charged on these bus routes. Like Station Link, both Night Bus services were also operated by Transdev and Hillsbus.

Route 535

The T6 Carlingford Line ceased operations on 5 January 2020, and a replacement bus service, route 535, commenced operations on the same day. It charges train fares and runs between Carlingford and Parramatta. It is operated by CDC NSW.

Bankstown Line replacement bus services

Beginning in 2019, buses are replacing trains between Bankstown and Sydenham during the Christmas and New Year period for preliminary works relating to the Bankstown Line metro conversion. This procedure will continue until 2023, after which that section of the line will be temporarily closed for several months to complete its integration into the City & Southwest Metro Line.

Trackwork buses

Buses are also frequently used to replace train lines that are closed for trackwork, mainly on weekends or late nights. These replacement services are contracted out to a bus company by Sydney Trains. Because it is impossible for one bus company to provide enough buses, the company will then subcontract some of the work to other bus companies. The routes are defined by Sydney Trains, with route numbers consisting of one or two digits, optionally followed by "A" (usually indicates short working variant), then the train line the route replaces. Examples include 35T3, 61T8 etc.

Since late 2017, a number of On Demand services have been introduced throughout the metropolitan and outer metropolitan bus regions. These are not part of the Opal card ticketing system and most do not accept concession fares. However, OpalPay and concession fares can be used and accepted on some of these services.

As of March 2020, the on demand services in Greater Sydney are:

• Central Coast on demand service – operated by Community Transport Central Coast's CoastConnect
• Edmondson Park on demand service – operated by Interline Bus Services' Interline Connect
• Inner West on demand service – operated by Transit Systems' Bridj
• Illawarra on demand service – operated by Premier Motor Service's Premier Illawarra On Demand (PODPI)
• Norwest on demand service – started May 2019 – operated by Hillsbus' MetroConnect
• Northern Beaches on demand service – started November 2017 – operated by Keolis Downer's Keoride
• The Ponds on demand service – started May 2019 – operated by Busways' Cooee Busways

Other on demand services have also been trialled but have since ceased, including:

• Bankstown on demand service – operated by Punchbowl Bus Company's Punchbowl On Demand (POD) – ceased 14 October 2018
• Carlingford and North Rocks on demand service – operated by Hillsbus' OurBus – ceased 24 May 2019
• Eastern Suburbs on demand service – operated by Bridj, formerly by Transdev's RIDE Plus until August 2018 – ceased 20 December 2019
• Macquarie Park on demand service – operated by Keolis Downer's Keoride – ceased 20 March 2020
• Manly on demand service – operated by RIDE Plus – ceased 24 May 2019
• Sutherland Shire on demand Service – operated by Transdev's Transdev Link ceased 17 November 2019
• Wetherill Park on demand service – operated by Bridj – ceased 3 August 2018

 

The following table lists patronage figures for the network of contract regions (in millions of journeys) during the corresponding financial year. Australia's financial years start on 1 July and end on 30 June. Major events that affected the number of journeys made or how patronage is measured are included as notes.