On Wednesday, Premier Nathan Rees announced that a new free shuttle bus commenced operations at midday in Sydney's CBD. The Premier said the free CBD Shuttle would loop around the city to pick up office workers, shoppers and tourists and take them to various destinations in the CBD.

The service will cost $1.5 million for eight buses. Minister for Transport and the Minister for Illawarra David Campbell also announced a free shuttle bus service would be introduced for the Wollongong CBD.

How interesting, when Parramatta City Council, supported by the Parramatta Chamber of Commerce, requested that the NSW Government chip in only $250,000 for the same service in Parramatta, the funding for The Loop was knocked back due to lack of money not withstanding that the same State Government as one of its election promises, promised to provide such funding.

The residents and business people of Parramatta are now entitled to ask why? Why are we being continually neglected when it comes to public transport services? Why does Sydney CBD, which already resembles an ant colony of buses, need another bus service?

The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore has herself stated publicly that this bus service was second rate compared to the light rail system proposed by the City of Sydney Council.

She said “Sydney needs effective integrated public transport which includes a light rail loop.”

“It can be quicker to walk than catch a bus.”

It appears that the City of Sydney Council sees this as an interim measure and does not like the idea and yet there it is like it or not.

We now learn also that Wollongong is to get a free bus service in the inner City at a cost of $2million per year. This is a far cry from the $250,000.00 previously promised to Parramatta.

It is interesting to note however that the Minister for Transport is also the Minister for Illawarra which not surprisingly takes in the City of Wollongong.

Following the mini budget Parramatta businesses will be forced to pay an increased parking levy which in the budget was increased from the present $470.00 per year per car space to $710.00 per year per car space. 

In Parramatta, we have approximately 9,000 car spaces on which this levy is imposed and which will now bring an increased revenue to the government of $2.16 million.

How equitable is this?

a) The City of Sydney Council does not want the free bus service but still gets it

b) Wollongong gets $2 million towards a free bus service and has no parking levies imposed for car spaces

c) Parramatta pays an additional $2.16 million in car space levies and gets nothing – ZERO – towards an existing council and ratepayer subsidized free bus service

The Parramatta Chamber of Commerce calls upon our State Member Tanya Gadiel and the Minister for Western Sydney, David Borger, to raise this inequity with the Premier with the view to obtaining the same level of funding for our now popular free bus service as is proposed for Wollongong.

We believe that the businesses, residents and workers of Parramatta are paying their way and that the NSW Government is not providing a return on that investment in the form of public transport services to match the growing government and private sector workforce our city is hosting.

The Chamber of Commerce believes that an injection of NSW Government funds into Parramatta’s free shuttle bus service, The Loop, would enable the service to be expanded to the University of Western Sydney campus and North Parramatta. The benefits of extending the free and reliable service to these two precincts include a reduction in car usage with the resultant reductions in traffic congestion and air pollution.

“Parramatta needs this funding and is entitled to it on the same basis as Wollongong, “ says Chamber President Roman Dechnicz.