One million passengers board Southwest Link
Southwest Link has become a major public transport service, carrying one million passengers since 30 September 2024.
Transport for NSW Coordinator-General Howard Collins said 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,” Mr Collins said.
“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.
We do know that this is still disruptive for our passengers, and at busy times there may be queues while you wait for your bus, or longer travel times during peak periods, so we thank the community for their patience during this time, however the end result will be a new metro service for the southwest Sydney community.”
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,” Mr Collins said.
“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.”
For more information and to plan your trip, visit transportnsw.info, and for real-time updates on roads and traffic conditions, visit livetraffic.com