Metrobus Enhancement Hubs Parramatta

In a move that shows the NSW Government is recognising Parramatta as an important place of employment and therefore a vital peak hour destination, and not just a departure point, the recently announced expanded Metrobus network provides Parramatta with five additional services.

One of the proposed new routes, between Parramatta and Macquarie via Epping, partially addresses the missing Parramatta-Epping rail link which would also have included the vital industrial area of Macquarie Park-North Ryde.

The other four vital links connect Parramatta and Sydney CBD via West Ryde, Parramatta and Hornsby via Baulkham Hills, Hurstville and Parramatta via Bankstown and Sutherland and Parramatta via Bankstown.

These routes are recognition that Sydney's workforce no longer centres only on Sydney CBD and travels along the linear east-west rails line. These services will support Parramatta as a centre of employment for people who live all over Sydney and the hope is that for each passenger there will be one less vehicle congesting our roads during peak hour.

This is important to business in Parramatta as the ease of getting to and from work is a consideration to the skilled employees our enterprises are increasingly in need of. Highly sought after personnel do not like sitting in the traffic jams which are now a fixture of both the morning and afternoon peak getting into and out of Parramatta.

The first new route will be Metrobus 52, which starts on 8 August between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD along Victoria Road, providing 40,000 extra passenger spaces a week. This will provide a big increase in bus capacity for families in Drummoyne and surrounding suburbs who head to work in the city and Parramatta each day.

The Chamber certainly applauds this common sense and environmentally friendly move by the NSW Government.