Fairy Meadow’s Dion’s Bus Service could take part in a trial of the NSW government’s on-demand bus concept.
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Last month NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance announced plans to look at on-demand public transport trials.
“I want to see the end of timetables, and a network that can cut down on travel delays by automatically putting on extra trains in wet weather or extra buses from a footy team’s home suburbs to away games,” Mr Constance said at the time.
The government is now calling for expressions of interest from people or groups keen to run a trial of “public transport services that turn up when and where customers need them,” the Transport for NSW statement read.
It is understood as many as 10 programs will be chosen for a trial and all will be in place by the end of 2017.
While the details of how an on-demand service would operate are unclear, it is understood they would not be dissimilar to airport shuttle services or leagues club courtesy buses.
A booking would be made in advance and – unlike taxis – a person might share the vehicle with other users and make other stops before reaching their destination.
“The pilots are about inviting industry to collaborate, co-develop and pilot technology-enabled solutions and operating models for public transport to improve transport outcomes and make public transport a more attractive choice,” a TfNSW spokeswoman said.
Dion’s Bus Service manager Les Dion said he was considering pitching a trial in the Illawarra.
“We need to look at what we can do, but we have a very open mind to it,” Mr Dion said.
Mr Dion said the type of on-demand services that could be offered was dependent on what sort of vehicles were available.
“All these ideas with on-demand services need to take into account your hardware,” Mr Dion said.
“So you might have minibuses, you might have 12-seater buses, you might have the great big 55-seater buses.”
He said it wasn’t the case that existing services would be scrapped.
“Mainstream services won’t be changing, they still need to run because people plan their day - how they get to work or to school,” he said.
“This is just an overlay.”