Western Sydney does not boast of the best transport system. Infrequencies, long waiting times and various changes of trains, busses, ferries as well as walking all include getting in and out of Western Sydney. University students in particular struggle with these issues as limited parking and traffic become increasingly time-consuming and expensive. So, in order to avoid this problem, they opt to take public transport. However, they are soon to discover the grass is no greener on their other side. Many students, particularly at UWS, complain of the tedious journey they have to endure in order to reach classes on time. They claim to have to leave home at least an hour early. There are those who live certain parts of Western Sydney that are close to train stations and bus stops, but there the majority who live in ‘the large gaps’ where getting to facilities are an separate problem altogether. Either way, commuters have to wait up to 30 minutes for a service. Students living particularly in the areas of Fairfield, Liverpool and Bankstown particularly, disadvantaged due to living in these gaps. Currently, according to Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, 58.2% of the population are living in a transport gap area. A figure that is alarmingly high, given the number of people that reside in Western Sydney.

Western Sydney Region of Councils President Allison McLaren states that “whether you are a student at UWS, a patient at Westmead, Liverpool or Blacktown Hospital, a tourist visiting the Hawkesbury or a resident trying to get to and from work — getting around is difficult, and in some cases impossible.” She contends that “one in 10 Australians reside in Sydney’s West” and this figure continues to escalate — especially, if the central district of Parramatta is deemed to become Sydney’s second CBD. So the issues of transport in Western Sydney are all too complicated at the moment. This issue however is not restricted to students. Western Sydney thrives on those who come to the area for employment, as well as the residents who make the journey from here to the city. For instance, in the Liverpool Council, 64% of the population work outside the area but only 12.4% use public transport. Thus, passengers are urged to turn to private transport. The government, at the State and Federal levels are promising to create large, expensive infrastructure projects that claim to ease the vast pressures on our roads such the WestConnex highway — which has generated much criticism as it is another example of the government’s attempt to ease commuter tension through private transport instead of public transport — the light rail and the North West rail link.

Conversely claims to fix problems on the road will not ease the tensions of students as fuel costs due to long distances create large expenses. The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) argues that the abundance of road related projects is to over-compensate for the severe lack of funding in the public transport sector in the past. However how are these long-term, expensive initiatives going to help the situation currently? Kurt Iveson, Senior Lecturer in Urban Geography at the University of Sydney, and CO-Chair of the Sydney Alliance Transport Research Action Team believes that “a comprehensive integrated public transport system is essential”. Mount Druitt is a sore point for many passengers who travel in and out of the west. Connection times between changes in platforms and busses are particularly weak. On weeknights, a bus that is supposed to arrive at the station at 7:18pm does not arrive before 7:38pm and in some drastic cases, 7:49pm — just over half an hour later than expected. NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian defends these irregularities as saying that the bus drivers are told to wait for trains so there is no way they would miss their connections. However, multiple students argue otherwise. They constantly are in uproar over how they either “just missed a train” and “now I have to wait for the next one because it won’t show up for another half an hour!”.

Safety is also a big concern amongst travellers as many don’t feel comfortable waiting for trains at later hours. Firstly, timetable coordination is essential. Trains and busses can arrive as scheduled as this would assist many passengers with planning their trip more efficiently. Secondly, frequencies of arrivals can become shorter — up to 10–15 minutes apart on both on peak and off-peak times. This would also mean that peak-hour trains and busses would not be so crowded and extend beyond capacity. Thirdly, services can run until later, equipped with more night guards to passengers can feel safer travelling at later hours. Lastly, busses can extend services into urban fringed areas that are far from stations and major stops, perhaps into densely residential streets. Furthermore, a report proposed by WSROC suggests that connections between North West and South West need to be improved vastly, along with frequent services from Penrith to the city to create a Western Sydney ‘loop’. Solutions such as these are unlikely to fix every problem and are far from providing a comprehensive overhaul to the transport systems but currently they can definitely contribute to easing the travels of every commuter.

To find out more about Western Sydney’s Key Policy Priorities, visit WSROC’s website http://www.wsroc.com.au/issues-campaigns/transport