What I like & dislike about Sydney's public transport
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- From reversible train seats to a consistent design language, let’s talk about Sydney’s public transport. Is it good? Yes, with one big exception.
00:00 Intro
00:27 Visual identity
01:55 Trains
04:42 Buses
05:54 Metro
06:39 Light rail
07:20 Ferries
08:09 Fares
08:59 Conclusion
10:08 Outro
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This is my 205th UA-cam video of all-time and the 2nd video in 2023.
Sydney has a free tram zone if you don’t get caught.
forget the trams, i've seen a few train commuters just jumping across the gates casually without tapping their opal cards and the trains guards do nothing at all.
@@anyanyanyanyanyany3551 its a crazy common occurrence, especially on the metro lines
@@anyanyanyanyanyany3551 the old 'i am not paid enough to care' mindset
😂
@@anyanyanyanyanyany3551 i did it a hell of a lot
No apology necessary about the buses, they are definitely the weakest link as you put it
Plus all the strikes and either being too late or too early, not picking up passengers when there's room etc.
@@oufukubinta sometimes they are just cancelled for me hahaha
Except the B1 double decker express line from the Northern Beaches, as close to enjoyable as buses will ever get.
Do wish all the State and Territory governments would get on the same ticketing system. As someone who travels a lot it is annoying to have to switch tickets and keep them all topped up.
The newer electric buses that they started implementing at the end of 2021 do have boards at the front that show the destination and upcoming stops though.
Fr. Especially as someone who lives in an area south of Sydney. The busses are the only crutch they use for public transport as the train line ends extremely short. And I’d like to mention that the buses don’t have clear schedule times and you usually have to call the companies to know them if you are lucky enough to live near one.
As a Sydneysider, I would say you are spot on. By the way, "reversible seats" have been a feature of Sydney trains since ... forever. At least since WW II, but probably since electric suburban trains of the 1920s, I think.
The trains that haven't had them are an exception and are much maligned. I am dreading the new Korean intercity trains.
@@varno those look horrible. Save the V sets and save the XPT. They should electrify the xpt
I was interested to hear the reversible seats described as an 'innovation". I can recall travelling to school in Sydney 70 years ago the suburban electric trains (now referred to as "red rattlers") all had reversible seats
@@OhKnow379 xpt cannot be electrified because they would have to electrify regional lines which are used by overheight trains so they will have do duplicate all tracks whch is not feasible
I've seen reversible seats on Lisbon tramways that date back to the 1920s and similarly old ones in New Orleans.
But while they're not new, you really don't find them in many places.
I am a Sydney Bus Driver and we do have next stop announcement on some of our newest buses and are trialling a few other different systems amongst the different operators.
My Company’s system also includes a display
Amazing how dumb people get. Now we need next drop announcements despite having more information at our fingertips including Google maps. Incredible no one uses eyes anymore.
@@xr6lad not everyone has the time or the place to use a phone in the bus, especially when it gets really crowded. And Gmaps isn't as accurate as you might think. I noticed that several bus stops were not marked and you could easily miss it. Perhaps Opal travel or Anytrip might have more up-to-date info on the stations, but then again I'm a Train/Metro fanatic.
@@xr6lad Maybe it's just me but I ike having not to constantly keep looking at my phone just to know when I need to get off
@@xr6lad Probably lives in the past. 😅
What company?
Interesting view from someone who didn't 'grow up' with our systems. The main problem is that the slightest change in weather and the network grinds to a halt. It's often in the rain that the trains start to have serious problems. The buses never really work, but that's more due to the spaghetti roads of Sydney.
As someone who lives ina a part of town with only busses Sydney transport has always been sub-par for me, its an hour and 20 minutes commute to work where I live but only 15 minutes if I were to drive.
@@marneuscalgar001 thats a huge discrepancy is the bus a stop every 5 seconds bus?
The reason the platform displays have to show every station is because services change depending on the time of the day, even taking different route in the case of the East Hills line (which normally goes via the Airport, but can also go via Sydenham at certain times of the day). It then lets them do things like communicating modified services when the network fails and they want to skip stations. These skipped stations are immediately obvious before boarding the wrong train.
and the "train Line" share the track, so need to have a long display all stations
maybe a screen at the train window/ top of the door like JR East in Tokyo does, showing the train service route.
@@ulysseslee9541 Also as you know in Japan you have many different types of services like limited express, express, super express etc. They should differentiate those more than just having "local" and "limited stops" because that's very vague
That and some lines run multiple different services which go to different places. The Illawarra line runs three different services which all terminate at different stations on different branches of the line.
One critique. The bus services aren't strictly for getting people to the station, it's for the convenience of people to get around their suburb. Yes it takes longer to get to the station but that's because the buses will make regular stops along streets to pick up and drop off passengers which is important if you want to get to the shops from your house and back. Like you said, Sydney is filled with car centric suburbs and the buses allow people who normally wouldn't be able to drive like the elderly or younger people to get around without a car.
As a visitor without a car, yeah it sucks but as a permanent resident who doesn't have a car, the buses do the job.
Yeah, especially since Sydney is putting effort into decentralizing its urban crawl. There's constant development of suburbs. Castle Hill way is most notable of this, but so does many inner Sydney Suburbs and blacktown area suburbs.
@@FFXfever yeah so many suburbs now I think Liverpool, castle hill, parra are all examples of this in various scales as you mentioned
I think that's why express services should exist
The ferry ride to Manly is just something else. A dream commute to work.
I have some very formative memories about that ferry.
I once made a gym on that ferry with an excersise bike
I love it....I live right next to the Wharf in Manly and my life is sooooo good, people are so nice there is never any peoblems. Im Kiwi local in Manly and aussies are very nice people. I call australia home.
Took me some time to realize the "fast ferry" to Manly is a tourist trap. The regular ferry is much cheaper when considering the daily limits, and nearly just as fast.
@@ironlionzion1380 Hahaha so true!
As a guy coming from a small New Zealand town of 30,000 people that barely has a functioning bus network, The public transport and freedom in Sydney without the need for a car is all I've ever wanted
i come from rural nsw in a town of 20k, I wish that I could afford to live in sydney, living w/o a car is a dream.
@@peepeetrain8755lol a lot of us are struggling here too.
I'm a Sydneysider who now lives in London. I wish I could consider Sydney's public transport to be 'good' - but since I moved overseas, I've realised how bad all public transport is in Sydney (and how bad and under-developed public transport is in every city in Australia).
@@AndoCommando1000 Bad comparatively sure, but I wish I had nearly the freedom of public transit that you got in Sydney
Great critique of our system's strengths and flaws! You pointed out the lack of next stop monitors, this is a relatively simple feature compared to other improvements that I hope is implemented onto our buses in the near future.
I can never understand someone born and raised in Sydney complaining about the transport when where i came from the trains ran every hou8r - hour and a half. yet people in Sydney whinge about a train 5 minutes late. I'd love to take both of you down south to see how transport really can be in NSW.
Some already have it (eg. B1 line to Northern Beaches).
Many years ago some Red Mxx buses also had it, but it was buggy and majority of passengers hated the noise.
We need some more overlap here, bb & t2
@@OutermostGold everyone complains about their home town/city because they love it and want it to be better. They don't complain because it's necessarily that bad (though often it is), it's about how much better it could/should be.
@@OutermostGold or North West where transport doesnt even exist
I recently visited Sydney for the first time from New Zealand and was blown away. Primarily used Trains and Ferries and found the whole system to be easy to use and reliable. The app made it easy to calculate costs and Opal cards made it easy to get on and off quickly. Never had to wait long for a train and ferries are the greatest way to explore Sydney harbour. Agreed on buses being the weak point but I can hardly complain!
I love the Sydney transport, their logos and the letter icons, love how simple and straight forward it is. I live in the US and our transportation just sucks when compared with Sydney's. The trains in Sydney are nice, modern and clean and I just like how extensive the network is. I like their ferries as well.
I live in nsw outside sydney. I love how my taxes pay for pretty logo's while my town turns to shit.
@@Zasek2112 yup. Rural and regional nsw pays for sydney transport while we get a bucket of shit in return.
Our country trains are still ones from early 80s which are diesel when Sydney gets new trains
More taxpayers live in Sydney then the rest of the state combined so your claim has no truth. The tax from Sydney siders funds hospitals, schools and roads in regional NSW
I'm not going to Sydney in the near future but I watch these videos anyway because of how informative yet relaxing they are. These videos are such a vibe
Public transport bring the worst out of people
As a freequent visitor, both as a tourist and a businessman working for a SYD based company I think SYD public transport is great. Buses, trams and trains are all I use when I'm there. The add PLUS is to sit on Circular Quay (with jetlag) in the early morning and watch the constant comings and goings of the ferries and their users. A unique mix. Residents always think their transport systems need improvement.
It is great to see that trams have returned to Sydney, as their original tram system was closed back in 1961.
They just swap the sides
All these transportation vehicles look really good. Nice video!
What a good throwback to when i lived in Sydney, the Ferries just did it to me, getting from A to B via such an scenic travel vehicle was just awesome, i just love the combination of water/big city/ yet nature everywhere
Great video! A note on bus stop names: some more notable bus stops do have shorter names, but most are longer descriptive names that say what street they're on and what cross street they're near. Also, the B1 express route to the Northern Beaches does have in-bus next stop display screens.
The B1 buses only stop once at every suburb, so easy to sign.
Sweet video. I wish a lot of these design language features made their way to my city. Makes me want to travel to Sydney.
To be honest this was kind of fascinating. Most people in Sydney who talk about the trains spend the entire time complaining. TBH I think the system IS pretty good, it's just there's so much urban sprawl and focus on the CBD that it kind of ruins it.
Agree. Too much CBD focus. In my view we need better north-south metro routes through western parkland city and central river city. Then we can have frequent direct bus routes connecting to stations This should be combined with high density Transport Oriented housing
Honestly as a Sydneysider who takes public transport daily, we've just learnt to live with how our system works. Living in the more outer suburbs also means less modern and less advanced technology, such as much more older station infrastructure, lack of new buses, lack of light rail and metro networks, and older trains. But we are an extremely diverse community with tonnes of people who cannot speak English that well still travelling without much difficulty, as the easy-to-learn and unchanging systems become a daily routine.
Though this did offer some insight into possible improvements, great video!
I'm so glad those Light Rails got higher capacity, one year on my way back from the Powerhouse Museum we were over capacity and tilting to one side. The driver had to get people to get off and wait for the next one, and while doing that we had families running to it to try and get *on* the train.
Hope I never have to live that nightmare again
Sydney does have the next stop thing in very new buses, they also have USB ports and adjustable aircon, and even a seatbelt for the first seats up front
Sydney public transport is so intensive. With 6 services, the interlinks can get complicated very fast. But it also means wider reachability. You can literally go from some little town in far southwest to another little town in far north east with multiple combinations transportation choices available.
Having grown up in Sydney and just moved to the Netherlands I love that transport across all modes is capped after a certain amount
No cap?
@@nolesy34 let me give you an example. You live in a suburb of Utrecht and you want to go to your company office in south Amsterdam. You have to take a tram, a train, and then another bus or tram at the other side. That can easily cost 25 euros or more. Even within the same province just to go to from one suburb to another can be 10 euros easily. Each part of that journey is operated by a seperate operator, and even though you pay the same way as in Sydney, using a smart card, it does not register the transfers and does not charge a daily cap. In comparison to Sydney, I used to be able to take a bus into Penrith, take a train, take a tram/bus/ferry at the other end and it would all count as one big trip. My ride home would often be free or 75% off because I had hit a cap for the day. Many people here buy a subscription to the train network, but that doesn’t help bridge the gap between the train and local transport networks!
bonus points if you can tell which shots were filmed in 2017 👀
Oh I'll have to rewatch 👀 I will now overestimate my guesses
02:00: I remember this
03:00: I kind of feel like this
05:10: maybe something similar but not this one
07:59: feels like might’ve had similar before
10:09: and I'm not guessing this one, just saying it's a nice shot and was a great way to cap off the video
@@betula2137
you got 02:00 correct! here’s the full list of all the shots that were filmed in 2017:
01:01 (ok, this one is impossible)
01:58 no metro construction work on the platforms
02:00 (impossible to get unless you’ve seen a vid i uploaded in 2017)
04:10 (impossible)
04:14 no metro construction work on the platforms
08:16 on the ticket gate it says «opal cards only», in stead of just «ready»
08:52 on the ticket gate it says «opal cards only», in stead of just «ready»
everything else was filmed in 2022 and 2023.
@@T2norway haha I got the only one I was confident about!
I was really tempted to try one of those metro platforms at the last minute, but decided I had enough flagrantly wrong guesses 😱
@@T2norway For what it's worth, and I really had to work for it, 01:58, 02:00 and 04:10-04:13 (reflected in the left door pane) show the old staff buildings removed from the middle of the platforms a couple of years ago.
Knowing that the remainder were filmed in 2022 and 2023, I could've picked 08:52 for a pretty bleak reason; I recognise someone in the shot who died in 2021.
Sydneysider here. Very valid points from this video. Buses are indeed... Not the greatest routes are usually more 'zig-zaggy' rather than direct. Like, a bus has to go through several side streets rather than a direct route to a major bus stop.
My father usually drives double decker buses on the T80 route (Liverpool - Parramatta). And sometimes he would tell me stories of his passengers either sleeping in the bus and forgetting their stop, or even passengers *waiting* at a stop and not hearing an incoming bus cause' they're wearing headphones.
So yeah, maybe all buses should have Next Stop boards, but I personally argue that planning where your stop is on your map and keeping an eye of where your bus is at, is more fun, with the added bonus of learning a bit of your local geography.
Wow, bus stories
I think bus stops should have a little storyboard for stories such as these to keep people entertained and not listening to headphones because that would save people mis-
Ah crap I missed it
About what you said about buses, have you looked at Sydney's Northern Beaches? They have an express double decker bus between Mona Vale and Wynyard train station called B-line. It has got next stop announcements and destination screens. It has even got built in USBs under the seats so you can charge your phone 😊
How long have the double deck been operating up there? I remember years ago, they replaced them all with single deck buses. Back in the 1980's, I managed to take a ride in an Atlantian double deck bus from the city to Palm Beach via the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Sitting in the top deck at the front was absolutely awesome, especially while crossing the Bridge.
Well the b line has been around since about 2017
@@RGC198 And very "interesting" upstairs going around the curves north from Newport. As far as I know, no bus rolled over, but it felt as though they would.
@@doubledee9675 That reminds me of the old double deck trolley buses that used to run at Kogarah. Most of them used to lean quite a bit rounding those corners there.
@@RGC198 I saw them but never rode on one. Perhaps it's time to resurrect the concept? Much cheaper than trams and quieter as well.
Amazing that a world-class metro line was opened in Sydney in 2019 after only 6 years of construction.
That's OK. Melbourne's Suburban Rail Loop isn't due for completion until 2085... if it gets fully completed at all. Seriously, that's no joke. It's actually the promised timeline. Most people alive today (imcluding me) will be fertiliser by then.
As someone who has lived in Sydney their whole life, I make fun of the public transport a lot but they've made the best of a bad situation because Sydney was never thought-out or planned to be a big city and it's slowly being improved. Slowly.
Sydney still slow compared to New York and LA
@@MitchellBPYao LA Public Transit good. i hear it still sucks.
As a student who goes to school and catches transport ever since the start of this years term, In the mornings the buses are not really that crammed but when the evening or afternoon comes around and I leave school, I walk 10 minutes to the nearest train station/bus stand and the buses are crammed or packed with loads of people somtimes if it is like 20 minutes late, same as the train but only on the T5 line, T2 line is not that crowded. When I arrive at school at like 7:10 in the morning, I see a K set running City Circle/T2 Line.
Man, this is as informative as it is calming. Awesome work! Hope i could go to Australia some day...
Great video. Very thoughtful analysis and professional presentation. 👌
One of your best videos! Makes me feel so warm and cosy whenever i revisit this pearl
Holy Heck. This is some insane production quality my dude. Really enjoyed the video.
You missed the blue mountains train type, most of their newer train types can't go up the mountains, so you see these mix of old and new trains while heading up the mountains, I found emu Plains is usually the furthest newer trains like to go. (Some go up to springwood at most
Interesting video. Thanks for sharing. Regarding the buses in Sydney; many bus routes were formerly tram routes, prior to 1961, when the Sydney tram system was closed. If the trams had been retained at the time, this could have all been converted to light rail, which would have given access to many more light rail routes than what exists today. During the 1930's and 1940's, Sydney had the second largest tram system worldwide, only surpassed by London UK, which also eventually closed back in July 1952.
never forget the trams they took from us ;-;
Great summary, also can't think of a better ferry system, they were my favourite :)
Yes, the Freshwater class is wonderful...not sure about the pretenders, the Emeralds.
5:12 Our electric fleet (about 100-200 buses) does in fact have them, but the announcements are like: next stop, arriving at, and then when you pass, it says next stop annoyingly close to arriving at
oh yeah, there's also the b-line brt for the northern beaches that has them too
They do be seem to be improving accessibility as recently the station closest to me which I commute with got upgraded to have a escalator, same with another station not too far down. Also commuting with the trains every day is pretty nice, sometimes around 3pm the trains can be packed with school students. At about 8am-8.30am I find that it becomes packed with both adults getting to work and kids getting to school.
Meanwhile when my country was proposing to delay school start times from 7+ a.m. to 8+ a.m., a disadvantage cited of such an arrangement is that morning peak hour demand for transport will be less spread out, as students will now be commuting to school @ the same time as workers, instead of before
Some buses in the city are starting to add next stop screens. I notice it on my way to school.
If only they added a little music like Gerri Halliwell singing 🎶stop right now thankyou very much
Stop, in the name of love
And after the smoke goes away 🎶cant stop addicted to the shindig, By RHCP as a prompt
It crazy to see how low bus use is compared to buses in Perth which are like nearly number 1 transport system for us in perth.
That very last shot of the skyline above the rail is gorgeous! Amazing camera work.
After dealing with Auckland traffic for 20+ years... going to Sydney for 10 days during one of the busiest times of the year.... It was an absolute breeze to get.. anywhere really. The ease of access was refreshing
Thats the first video im seeing by you and I'm honestly impressed. Very clever and minimalistic video-editing, a good choice of music and a calming narrative. Keep it up!
Marvelous video as always
3:14
They also had vertical display boards in that shape back in the 1980s until flat screens became more viable in recent years! The old display boards would have the line’s stations on them on slide cards while lights next to each card would indicate what stations the next train will be stopping at! :)
@@BB-xx3dv
Yup the old CRTs were surprisingly good but suffered a lot of screen burn-in! :)
@@BB-xx3dv
Definitely agreed while in Melbourne they had the stopping at lists always visible on the CRT displays while still retaining that on their current displays! Meanwhile the scrolling stopping at lists move quickly at a readable speed on the smaller screens which also included the old LED dot matrix displays many stations had previously! :)
I did not know how much I'd like a public transport and Nintendo game focused channel this much. Also really like how comprehensive and slick this video is.
Dude, I’m an avid enjoyer of transport/urban planning videos and stumbled across your vids through the algorithm. I had a look at your channel only to find I’ve already watched all your videos on city pop 🧐 amazing combination of niche interests that somehow aligns perfectly with mine. keep it up 👍
My mind just got blown, there are whole trains (metro) that are fully automated???? WHAAT??? :D This is awesome!
so cool watching this and seeing locations that i can get to in a few minutes. the shot of the train from tempe to wolli creek at the beginning of the conclusion is just down the road from me which is rly fun
I remember when I went to Sydney for my study abroad and homestay program back in 2017, it was a wonderful experience taking the train ride from Campbelltown to Central station and the ferry ride had the most beautiful scenery of the city. Awesome video by the way, makes me want to go back to sydney again.
This seems like a very fair review of the system, and I agree with most of your points. Good job 👏
A nicely done and informative video 👍
Great vid, awesome images.
Great video man. Sums up the Sydneysider perspective pretty well, even down to uncomfortable ferry benches
Really enjoyed this video! Great animations! Our system isn’t the best that’s for sure 😅
The quality of this video is amazing it should deserve more views
The worst thing about the train network design is the line names, T1, T2, rather than names (Victoria, Waterloo) or letters (S Bahn, U Bahn). I've been catching trains in Sydney for 25 years and still don't know the line names by T number. I refer to them mostly geographically
Shenzhen has instead switched from naming to numbering its subway lines, probably so that non-Chinese speakers can identify the lines more easily e.g. Line 1 used to be called the _LuoBao_ line (a portmanteau of _Luohu_ 罗湖 & _Baoan_ 宝安, 2 of the districts served by this line). Japan meanwhile hasn't done that though, but some of its lines names are more transparent than you may think (if you haven't learnt Japanese/Chinese/Korean _Hanja_ script) e.g. _Tozai_ 東/东西 means "east-west", _Fukutoshin_ 副都心 means "auxiliary metropolis centre"
Great video! If you like consistent design language in public transport, you should never visit the Ruhr area in Germany (where I'm from), it's soo bad :(
my favourite system in that regard is Budapest, but it's always cool to visit somewhere new and experience the system there :D
great video. would love to see a similar video on Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide's PT systems
Incredibly well-made video, even being consistent with their design identity! I am personally also a nitpick when it comes to a consistent design system; I get really annoyed when people prefer “aesthetics”, especially here where clear, concise, and quick communication of information is most important. Thanks for the insights!
On a few of the buses I’ve caught recently, there have been screen that’s say “upcoming stops test” or something like that. Sydney buses have defiantly considered it and hopefully the system works
I have used the Sydney Transport system for the last 25 years. Always been very happy. Has its moments of course, but on the whole I can get to wherever I want in reasonable comfort and normally on time.
Great video. Thanks mate.
i love the sydney trains. Looking at the screen and being 100% SURE my stop is coming up is something so important to me that i didnt realise it was unique to us.
Yep, great when they work. Which so far is about a 60% hit rate for me. Don't think I've had a full week where I haven't had a delay due to "urgent repairs" at rush hour, change of service, or bus replacements. Two weeks ago the entire system stopped for two hours and ubers across a few suburbs rose to $500+. Also, the website is consistantly incorrect or broken.
LOL at those guys coming out to greet you and your phone / camera at Macquarie Park station. They must've been really bored that day to care what you were doing...
Already know this one's gonna be a banger
i always appreciate your comments, joe vibes! ❤
Nice! One of the most interesting ferry trips is the River Cat (Catamaran) to Parramatta. But people need to check that the ferry will go all the way to Parramatta because the service is affected by the tides.
New Zealand started doing stop announcements and for the impaired its extremely helpful on buses, trains already have been doing it with in and outside displays since the 2000s.
Here in the UK, at least where I live just about all buses now either had the functionality from new or have been retrofitted. Some bus stops have displays showing the next 2-3 services due at that stop and approx how long till they arrive (updated if they get held up)
This video was fantastic! New subscriber added :)
Great video! You should come down and visit the Wollongong area as a palate cleanser ... I live in Kiama, and, well, let's just say having a car is vital ... Luckily I, too, work from home. Kjempeflott kanal, bra jobbet!
It's hard to prove, but I think our former premier and transport minister had a lot to do with the subtle aspects like the design language. She had lots of detailed complaints when in opposition, but full credit, the turnaround happened when she became transport minister and the government started 12 years ago (and is about to end its tenure in 2 weeks, according to polls). One of her more trademark changes was to force all "guards" (the second staffer on each train, who operates doors opening and closing) to undergo professional voice training from a local broadcaster. Many of the trains did use manual voice announcements from the guards at each station, and to this day, guards will still give custom announcements to explain any unscheduled delays - and another new-from-that-time policy is they have to find out a reason for the delay, and announce the reason to the passengers. I can confirm that the "mumbling" we used to get consistently from most train guards did finally stop happening. I like that the public transport system was given a lot more equal importance and status like this, having certain "nice to have" or "premium" features on top of servicing basic requirements. Most governments focus only on costs, prices and performance when it comes to public transport, and leave premium features only to private transport like roads and tollways.
Nice video, very agreeable. I ride the ferries on my holidays for fun and that Manly ferry can be a real wild trip if you're lucky. I think you went on the Manly ferry during a period of time when one of the new ferries was off the run for repairs, and subsequently had to be replaced by that one you caught over (you got lucky because by their maritime limit they must close off the front but often they forget). The buses are hell and the drivers while nice don't compare to country drivers. Trains when they work are amazing and they all have their own types and nicknames, just like the ferries. Very nice review with short and sharp points that people who don't know Sydney can understand.
The new intercity trains are in testing now (without passengers) and they include screens on the outside
this video is absolutely impeccable
I never noticed that the colours of the roundels/station signs match the colours of the vehicles. 🤯
Great presentation.
Having grown up in Sydney, having reversible seats are the norm for me so, when I went Europe for the first time, I couldn't understand why I couldn't change the direction of the train seats. I hate sitting backwards on pubic transport.
I genuinely love our public transport system here in Sydney. People are just massive whingers on Reddit. I remember back in the day catching a bus all the way from the city to Bondi for 60 cents. It’s much more expensive now at 3.70 for an adult, but if you’re a pensioner or a senior it’s a maximum of $2.50 a day for unlimited travel on any public transport system.
Great video! The newer D sets that will enter service will have screens on the side of carriages
cool, i didn’t know that! thanks for the info!
4:53 The “streamlined routes” you prefer, would only suit commuters going direct to a train station (most commuters can afford a car and often drive to the station).
However, these outer suburban bus routes that seemingly weave in & out of suburbs, are really for those of us who do not own a car - such as children, the disabled, or seniors, who are not in a hurry, or are just going to nearby shopping centres or play fields. If the bus routes were more streamlined as you suggested, then the majority of us would need to walk more than a kilometre to the main roads, defeating the purpose of the convenience of public transit.
my point is that there should be more bus routes. right now it seems like a single route is trying to go in and out of areas that could’ve been covered by multiple other bus routes. ideally we need routes covering both local areas and quick access to transport hubs. that way we can reduce car dependency.
My other bug bear.. is the billions spent on free commuter parking.. yet they charge you more to take the bus to the station - should be the other way around.
@@T2norway But here’s the thing you need to understand about how things work here, European cities like Oslo has everything much closer to each other, which makes it easy to run a multitude of bus routes around areas while also having the depots and drivers available. Plus, commuters and tourists alike can get anywhere with ease.
With Australia on the other hand, it is a massive land with huge distances between towns, and among those scattered towns are the capital cities like Sydney and Melbourne.
What visitors just don’t get is that the metropolitan area for Sydney is HUGE, just like the other Australian capitals. Oslo’s area measures to 480 km2 (190 sq mi), while the Sydney metropolitan is 12,367 km2 (4,775.2 sq mi). Hate to break the news to you mate, but the people in Oslo don’t typically have to commute at the lengths, distances and times that we typically have to.
Yes, there are buses in the city centre, but their main job is to serve that and the inner city suburbs, while the outer suburban satellite areas have their own bus regional bus networks, because there’s just no way of having one network run all of the Sydney metro’s bus services.
Have a look at any inner city bus network map and you’ll see that there are indeed some streamlined bus routes: the Express and Limited stops routes, while the local bus routes handle the suburban area. No ‘next stop announcements’ needed, because there are bus stops every few hundred metres away and there’s usually not much reason why a tourist would want to take one of these local buses, all you need to do was ask the driver if you’re unfamiliar and they’ll help out. Like D Taylor told you, the local suburban buses are largely for us car-less, children, seniors, locals to just get around, commute, get to our local work or school, get to the local shopping centres, because not all of us live near a train line or the inner city.
There’s a reason why Sydney has 15 separate bus regions; not one sole region, and even still not every single suburb is served by any public transport, because that’s how big the city is. From some places, you have no other option but to drive and make the 45 minute commute. To go car-free in this instance may mean having to walk several kilometres to the nearest bus stop, take 3 separate buses (suburban buses running on 15-30 minute frequencies) and 2 trains, meaning an even longer commute, which can at times reach anywhere around 3-5 hours.
Just saying, there are reasons why things are done a certain way in some other areas.
@@XTrapolis942M >Oslo’s area measures to 480 km2 (190 sq mi), while the Sydney metropolitan is 12,367 km2 (4,775.2 sq mi). Hate to break the news to you mate, but the people in Oslo don’t typically have to commute at the lengths, distances and times that we typically have to.
You're being incredibly disingenuous. Why are you comparing the city of Oslo proper to the Sydney Metropolitan Area? Oslo is one city, whereas the Sydney Metropolitan Area is multiple cities stretching all the way from the City of Sydney to Penrith. The Greater Oslo Region, which is Oslo's metropolitan region, is 8,894 km2. It's still a few thousand squared kilometers less than Sydney, but it's not a massive gap as you put it.
@@dylanabela4058 Okay, nice job; you’ve taken my comment straight out of context. That video is about PUBLIC TRANSPORT. The point of my comparison was not to say ‘Oi mate, your city is tiny, ours is big’, it’s to give an idea of how far some of us have to travel, because while for example you can advise someone in Balmain working in the city to go car-free, you’re not going to give this same advise to another city worker who lives in Kings Langley. If someone wants to rate how the transport network runs in the city centre compared to other places, then sure, go ahead. But to rate up one city’s entire public transport network against another doesn’t work until you properly take into consideration why that one network works the way it does, and why importing ideas from a city in another country that seemingly ‘does it better’ isn’t always the best option.
To answer your question, yeah, Sydney metro consists of multiple cities, but guess what? They all use the same public transport system with the same ticketing and at times the same modes. If you’re going to rank Sydney’s public transport network, rank every mode (take the intercity and regional rail networks out of it), study the different peak, off peak and weekend timetables and operations. Don’t just base the study around the Sydney City, Bondi, Mosman and Balmain areas and assume that things run in the exact same manner in Camden or Richmond.
And my view is disingenuous? How about you come and live out in the outer suburbs as a bread-winner for the family that has to drive to work somewhere where you can JUST make it in an hour (because public transportation otherwise will take you 3 and a half hours) and still have some inner city podium-hogging chauffeur-driven MP or boss telling you to go car-free from your house to work?
I used to get to my school via the Sydney Monorail to get to Wynyard Station so I could take the train to the school.
The monorail carriages if I can recall, had damp air conditioning, the carriages were humid too. And the click clack sound of the monorail and how it sounded like an air raid siren
Yeah busses are easily the worst part, there have been many misadventures for myself on the busses over the years. From snapping off mirrors, to running over signs in the middle of roundabouts to straight up skipping my street and continuing on like nothing happened. That said, when we got the christmas bus, MAN, was that special! Ive probably docker 1000's of bus trips if not 10's of 1000's and I only ever got the christmas bus ONCE, thats how significant it is!
Narrowly behind the busses is the George St Tram, omg, what a debacle and all that for a tram that can't even go faster than the pedestrians walk because theyre always blocking the way and it stops so frequently. I generally back big infrastructure projects even if theyre a bit overbudget and late, as long as they make a valuable contribution to their surroundings. The George St Trams do not do this and it took absolutely forever for them to get it going and it does nothing, when I walked from Hyde park up to Circular Quay, I didnt even think about getting on the tram, thats how irrelevant it is even in the most optimal situation
MAN I see what you did there, you eVOLVed it into a joke
Well Done On This Video, I'm Surprised No One Has Done It Yet
The thing about Sydney buses is that they always come late and the one day you're late they leave on time
they are trying to implement the "next stop" function on the busses you mentioned, but to limmited effect lol. at least they are trying
Sydney resident here.
You forgot to mention that all the bus signs have a huge B on them and then the actual stand letter for the individual bus stop (e.g. A) is super small in comparison. That is one very frustrating design issue.
Everyone knows the bus stops are bus stops so they should have made the huge B less prominent because what people are really looking for all the time is the actual stand letter.
Another critique I have is for trains - the scrolling text on all the station platform indicators is irritatingly slow. I get that it's designed with people of all reading comprehension levels in mind but it seems like even considering that, it's far too slow. When I've just arrived at a platform and immediately a train is pulling up and I'm desperately trying to figure out whether it goes to a certain stop and then get on before it leaves, this can be quite frustrating.
100% agree on the bus loudness. I don't care about emissions/pollution but the loudness is certainly why I'm looking forward to more electric buses.
i love your vids
Another banger!
Can't believe I didn't watch this video earlier! This is a fantastic critique of the transport system with fresh eyes. Having lived in the south-west almost my whole life (I recognise some of the places in this video! :D), it's so easy to complain without thinking about how we have it good in some areas.
Screw buses though, the need to use the Opal Travel app unless you're in a newer bus with a display sucks >:(
Fun fact, the super old train is called the tincan 😂and some people call the newer ones plastic trains.
It's also really interesting to hear and learn about Norway! Would love to visit someday. For one, I love the dark theme screens although that might make the text harder to read for some people. I wonder if they ever get the occasional Times New Roman screen like we do here XD
Awesome! Please come to the orginal public transportation system, London. I would love to see different design breackdowns/ reviews of wayfinding, signage and boards!
Love your vids! Would love a video on the band T-Square. Seems to fit the theme of your past videos on Takanaka and Casiopea. Heia Norge! ;)
A very fair assessment. well done.
An excellent post, imo your homework and vlog is just meticulous. Hats off man.
02:50 TANGARA MENTIONED! TANGARA MENTIONED! (sirens blare, confetti falls from ceiling)
Watching this video while waiting for my 42 minute late bus, which probably will never come :.)
I've lived in Sydney for over 20 years of my life and for being such a complex system you can expect one or 2 major delays a year.
No way you, the guy who made beautiful analyses of Casiopea's and Takanaka's discography, visited Prairewood T-way and Cabramatta!!! As I've recently started my first year of Uni, I've been a regular commuter since the beginning of this year and I didn't even know about the pro tip (hard agree with the awful naming of bus stops). Privitisation of public buses has really been a spit in the face for bus drivers but hopefully this will be amended with the recent change of government.
The NSW TrainLink D sets have indicator screens on the side of the trains which are currently under testing and are expected to enter service once they receive their modifications to operate properly