Roads and Maritime Services is playing a critical role in maximising the efficient use of road space, and encouraging greater use of buses.

Roads and Maritime Services and Transport for NSW are working on 43 strategic bus corridors across the Sydney metropolitan area.

Bus priority measures, such as continuous red bus lanes and bus priority at traffic lights, are being implemented on priority corridors. This will improve the reliability of bus services and reduce bus journey times.

Roads and Maritime Services uses traffic and travel time surveys and feedback from bus operators to ensure that bus priority measures operate at peak efficiency. Continuing enhancements help keep pace with increasing demand for bus travel.

Recent road-based public transport initiatives include:

• Roll-out of the Public Transport Information and Priority System to half of the total Sydney metropolitan bus fleet.
• Completion of the Inner West Busway on a section of Victoria Road from Drummoyne to Gladesville to improve bus services.
• Completion of 140 bus priority projects on the bus corridor network ( as at 31 January 2012).
• Installation of nearly 150 kilometres of bus lanes in Sydney.
  

Traffic and travel time surveys and feedback from bus operators is ongoing to help bus priority measures operate eat peak efficiency. Continuing enhancements help us with the increasing demand for bus travel.

The strategic (or priority) bus corridors were identified as part of the Review of Bus Services in NSW (the Unsworth Review 2004). The bus corridor network covers Sydney, Newcastle, Central Coast, Wollongong and the Illawarra.

For information about the Unsworth Review 2004 and strategic bus corridors on the Transport for NSW website, click here.

What happens next?

We will continue to focus on:

• Working towards the NSW State Plan goal to increase the proportion of public transport trips.
• Improving bus facilities and bus priority on strategic bus corridors.
• Providing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.  
• Improving four major traffic routes - Victoria Road, Epping Road, Pittwater Road and Windsor Road.

A number of projects with information of interest to residents are listed here, but this list is not comprehensive.