Newcastle_Transport

Newcastle Transport

Newcastle Transport

Public transport operator in New South Wales, Australia

Newcastle Transport is a public transport operator in Newcastle, New South Wales. A subsidiary of Keolis Downer, it operates bus, ferry and light rail services under contract to Transport for NSW.

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History and operations

A Volgren bodied Volvo B7RLE
MV Shortland approaching Queens Wharf
CAF Urbos 3 tram on Hunter Street

In November 2015, the Government of New South Wales announced its intention to contract out the operation of Newcastle Buses & Ferries services to the private sector.[1][2] Keolis Downer and a Transit Systems/UGL Rail consortium announced their intentions to bid.[3][4] In December 2016, a ten-year contract was awarded to Keolis Downer effective from 1 July 2017.[5][6]

Ticketing

All public transport services under Newcastle Transport utilise the Opal ticketing system.

Services

Bus

Main article: Buses in Newcastle, New South Wales

In January 2018, the bus route network was completely redesigned with the number of routes reduced from 27 to 21.[7][8] In the same year, Newcastle Transport began trialling an on-demand bus service[9] within the Lake Macquarie area, servicing the suburbs of Dudley, Mount Hutton and Warners Bay.[10]

Newcastle Transport commenced operations with a fleet of 172 MAN, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo buses.[11] Buses are operated out of depots in Belmont and Hamilton.

In February 2023, Newcastle Transport began using zero emission electric buses built by Bustech on the ZDI-450 electric integral chassis.[12]

Ferry

Main article: Stockton ferry service

Newcastle Transport operates a passenger ferry service that takes five minutes to cross the Hunter River between Queens Wharf and Stockton. The 1986 built ferries are MV Hunter and MV Shortland.

Light rail

Main article: Newcastle Light Rail

Newcastle Transport operates the Newcastle Light Rail between Newcastle Interchange and Newcastle Beach station in Newcastle East with six CAF Urbos 3 trams. The light rail opened in February 2019.[13][14]

References

  1. [1]
    Building tomorrows Newcastle: A New Approach to Transport Transport for NSW 5 November 2015
  2. [2]
    Transport for Newcastle: private operator to integrate city’s public transport ABC News 5 November 2015
  3. [3]
    Keolis Downer eyes acquisitions ahead of Newcastle public transport bid Sydney Morning Herald 3 December 2015
  4. [4]
    Transit Systems and UGL announce intention to jointly bid for Newcastle iso Transit Systems 26 February 2016
  5. [5]
    Keolis Downer awarded contract to run light rail, buses and ferries says Baird government Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine Newcastle Herald 12 December 2016
  6. [6]
    Downer awarded Newcastle Transport Contract Keolis Downer 12 December 2016
  7. [7]
    Newcastle timetables to change Transport for NSW 1 December 2017
  8. [8]
    Transport changes Newcastle Transport
  9. [9]
    Newcastle Transport Launches on Demand Service Newcastle Transport 29 November 2017
  10. [10]
    Newcastle Transport On Demand Information Newcastle Transport 18 February 2019
  11. [11]
    Newcastle: all change Australian Bus issue 83 September 2017 page 12
  12. [12]
    Newcastle Transport begins journey with first electric bus Australasian Bus & Coach 22 February 2023
  13. [13]
    It's a date – free community open day for Newcastle Light Rail on 17 February Transport for NSW 31 January 2019
  14. [14]
    Light rail in Newcastle opening from Monday 18 February Transport for NSW 3 February 2019
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