Today one of our roving reporters sent us the picture above of the long queue waiting at the Bus Interchange on Epping Road (yes we know it is really called Longueville Road but that confuses people). In the Cove is frequently contacted by frustrated commuters asking what can be done to bring the lack of public transport to the attention of the relevant authorities.
Late last year In the Cove wrote to the Department of Transport and asked them to review the Lane Cove Bus Services in light of the number of new developments in Lane Cove.
ITC’s letter to Department of Transport
I refer to today’s telephone enquiry.
As discussed, I attach an article that was written a few weeks ago about suburbs like Lane Cove missing out on Public Transport options.
The State Government has recently released ‘A Plan for a Growing Sydney’ which is an update of the Metro Strategy. Lane Cove’s contribution is likely to be some 6,000 units (up from 3,900).This scale is similar to the projection for neighbouring councils.
We’ve had a large number of complaints from residents along Mowbray road and surrounding streets of Lane Cove, Lane Cove North and Chatswood about the lack of services that are being put in place to cope with a large number of new apartments.
Department of Transport’s Reply
Please see below a response to your enquiry, hope it helps.
PLEASE QUOTE A TRANSPORT FOR NSW SPOKESPERSON
Current services are meeting the needs of the majority of customers. For example customers can currently catch route 534 on Mowbray Road which travels to Chatswood Station. Regular, frequent services are also available on Epping Road which may be within walking distance of some residents in the area concerned.
Transport for NSW is continually ensuring that bus services meet demand where possible, especially where new residential or employment growth is occurring across Sydney. Future network planning will consider improvements to bus services in the Lane Cove area in line with customer and operational requirements.
Kind regards,
Cissy Ye
Media Cadet
Customer Experience
Transport for NSW
From the above reply you can see that Transport for NSW does not believe Public Transport is an issue in Lane Cove.
The State Government has the stated objective of “Increasing housing choice around all centres through urban renewal in established areas”. This objective is a developer’s dream. Population targets are set for each area. It is therefore the State Government job to ensure that transport is developed in line with infrastructure.
Something must be done. Feel free to send in photos of bus queues, packed buses, stats on the number of full buses that go past you at the Epping Road Interchange and waiting times for buses leaving the city. We will collate these and send them to the local member and relevant NSW Minister.
Feel free to write to the NSW Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and express your disappointment. You can contact the Minister via this link
Mr Andrew Constance Minister for Transport and Infrastructure
Do you have a question about Lane Cove you are dying to have answered? Please send us an email at [email protected]
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