Residents in Shellharbour are big fans of on demand buses, but the new transport option doesn’t seem to be a winner in Figtree.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On January 1, the NSW Government kicked off a six-month trial of the new transport service.
There are three trials in the Illawarra area – at Shellharbour, Thirroul and Figtree.
According to government figures for the first month of the trial, there were 821 trips made across the three areas.
Shellharbour accounted for more than 70 per cent of those trips, with 594.
Thirroul residents hopped on the buses 143 times – 17 per cent of the total.
Figtree residents either don’t need the service or don’t know it exists.
They made just 84 trips – 10 per cent of all trips in the trial areas.
The bus service, run by Premier Illawarra and booked via an app, features a fleet of three Toyota HiAce vehicles.
It allows people to book a ride from their door to train stations or bus interchanges in those suburbs between 5.30am and 9pm.
When the Illawarra trial was announced in November last year, Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra Gareth Ward said he was excited by the concept.
“It provides the customer with a new opportunity to literally get picked up from their door and taken to where they want to go,” Mr Ward said.
Demand for the service will ultimately be used to determine whether it is retained or expanded in some areas or dropped in others.
However, a Transport for NSW spokeswoman said that there were no targets in terms of passenger numbers during the trials.
“Transport for NSW has not set any minimum patronage requirements as this is all about learning,” the spokeswoman said.
“We will be monitoring the pilots closely and will take a range of factors into consideration when determining if changes should be made to any pilot.”
The spokeswoman said the patronage growth so far has been “encouraging” and the feedback had been positive.
“The overarching objective of the NSW Government’s On Demand Transport Pilot Program is to improve our understanding of how different models could improve customer outcomes with data from each pilot to be used to guide improvements across the entire network,” the spokeswoman said.