Accessible and sustainable transport

Public transport should be genuinely public and free. Instead we have seen transport sold off piece by piece with for-profit operators cutting services and raising prices. The Greater Sydney Bus contract is worth nearly $8 billion, and yet in the outer suburbs bus routes fail to meet even minimum service standards. In regional and rural areas public transport is unreliable or virtually non-existent.

Instead most workers are forced to rely on cars to get around. Across NSW workers pay a huge portion of their income for the privilege of getting to work. In cities like Sydney on average commuters pay more than 15% of their income on transport. State governments have loaded costs onto commuters by greenlighting more and more toll roads, with drivers in Sydney alone paying $1 billion annually. We’ll fight to abolish tolls for commuters paid for by taxing the big freight and logistics companies.

We’ll fight for

Public Transport and Infrastructure

• Return privatised bus, metro and other transport services to public ownership and operation.
• Make all public transport free, funded by ending private operator contracts and redirecting the current subsidies to running and expanding a publicly owned network.
• Build a genuinely usable network by establishing a turn-up-and-go model on all high-frequency routes, extending services so key lines run through the night, increasing bus, tram and train frequency across the network, and establishing a high-frequency orbital bus network connecting suburbs to each other rather than only to the city.
• Create a NSW Public Works department to undertake the expansion and environmentally friendly retrofitting of the train network.
• Double the bus fleet across NSW replacing all fossil-fuel buses.
• Upgrade regional rail services.
• Construct new and extend public transport routes to improve public transport access and frequency in suburban areas.
• Undertake a high speed rail initiative to make interstate transport fast and accessible by train.
• Abolish Transport Officers and replace them with trained customer service and community safety staff whose role is to assist passengers rather than enforce fares.
• Ensure all ride-share companies provide drivers with conditions equivalent to minimum pay and conditions under the relevant Award, with state enforcement mechanisms to prevent misclassification of drivers as independent contractors.
• Waive all outstanding public transport fines issued for travelling without a valid ticket.

Cities for cyclists and pedestrians

• Build a connected, protected cycling network across metropolitan Sydney.
• Nationalise commercial e-bike share companies like Lime, and introduce a free bike share scheme for metropolitan areas.
• Expand secure bike parking at public transport hubs such as train stations.
• Upgrade pedestrian infrastructure across NSW, including footpaths, crossings, lighting and shade, with priority given to areas near schools, hospitals and public transport stops.

Roads and Cars

• Return toll roads to public hands and remove tolls, with the cost offset by taxes on the highest income earners and the elimination of private toll road profits.
• Amend infringements issuing rules so that traffic and parking fine amounts are proportionate to the recipient’s taxable income.
• Build a publicly owned network of charging stations for electric vehicles, including in regional areas currently underserved by the private charging network.

Infrastructure

• Reverse the privatisation of Sydney Airport and make the train service to the airport free.
• Evaluate the likely health and environmental effects of all major transport infrastructure projects in planning stages, with any identified negative effects to be considered in assessing the suitability of the project.