The transport plan for how thousands of people will be getting around during the Supercars Newcastle 500 event has finally been released.
There will be an integrated ticketing option with 300 additional buses and 90 more train services scheduled for the three-day event.
Park and ride services will be located not only from McDonald Jones Stadium to the Honeysuckle precinct, but also added across Newcastle Harbour at Stockton for the ferry service.
There will be two ferries running which can carry 200 passengers and crew each. The ferries will be running every 5 to 10 minutes.
Newcastle 500 Event Manager Kurt Sakzewski says the plan will easily enable 150,000 commuters to get in and out.
"We want to make sure all of those people can get in and out of the event in an easy manner and that's why we've introduced this integrated ticketing option so people will be able to come in whether it's via bus, ferry, train, in coming from Sydney and the outer regions,"
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| Event Manager Kurt Sakzewski. |
The ticket you've purchased to get into the event itself will give you free public transport whatever it may be.
"The great thing about the integrated ticket is it doesn't matter what version of public transport that you want to take, you can get on a bus, get on a ferry, get on a train, you just show your event ticket and it just gives you access all of the way through for no extra cost," said Kurt Sakzewski.
Revitalising Newcastle Program Director Michael Cassel says they've tried to prepare for anything.
"We will have a command centre running throughout the three days to the event. That command centre will include everyone from police, event organisers, Keolis Downer, and people from NSW Transport so we'll be able to monitor what's going on and we'll be able to make changes as we move throughout the day and the night."
Event organisers have planned for people coming into the city from every possible way and they say this year will be a very good test to see how well they've planned.
"We can assess how it actually works after year one but we also keep an eye on where our ticket sales are from as well so gives us a little heads up but really it will be after the event itself that we will know the exact details and obviously in year two we will apply that to the plan," said Kurt Sakzewski.
Kurt admits it will be interesting to see how well people will be moved in and out of city on the Friday and Saturday nights but they've been working with police and every other transport agency to ensure everyone gets out in a timely manner.
The biggest piece of advice the organisers have is to catch public transport. Don't drive.
"We really want to encourage people to take public transport. All major events government use public transport to ferry people in and out and that would be the most efficient and least disruptive way to get in and out of the event," said Michael Cassel.
