Two New Bus Services for Singleton

BY DANIELLE RIES

An announcement by the Minister for Transport Andrew Constance today is the first step in the right direction to improving public transport in Singleton.

The council is pleased the government has listened to their calls for two new inbound and outbound bus services will run between Singleton and Maitland.

These services will run twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon, with it making stops at Branxton, Greta and Lochinvar before arriving at its destination of Maitland train station.

Singleton Mayor Sue Moore

This is a great opportunity for residents to show their support by using the services in hopes of reaching their prospects of getting a train station at Singleton.

Singleton Mayor Sue Moore says the bus services will be beneficial to the community.

"The community was very pleased to have a better connection. Ultimately they would have liked to have two more trains which has been the ongoing request for a number of years, but to have a more direct bus service rather than a service that stops 43 times certainly made much more sense".

She also says these services will commence next week.

"Bus services will commence on Monday and it will be 7 days a week, so it will carry forward on Saturdays and Sundays as well. That'll allow students and people to get to medical appointments and Tafe and educational purposes in the lower Hunter much easier than they currently are".

Driverless Technology to the Hunter

BY DANIELLE RIES

Labor seek to make Newcastle the testing ground for new driverless technology in NSW.

Swansea MP Yasmin Catley gave parliament a notice that she would introduce a private members bill which would give the Transport Minister the power to identify trial sites for this technology.

A private members bill, which is modelled off a similar act passed in South Australia, will spend 10-million dollars over three years in hopes to attract the technology

This comes after the opposition Luke Foley used his budget reply speech last year to help campaign for the idea.

Yasmin Catley says we should take advantage of this opportunity.

"Those plans actually have the technology inbuilt into them that will enable autonomous vehicles to operate on the roads here in the Hunter.

"So we want to take advantage of the 90 billion dollar industry that is the autonomous vehicle industry which we will see in the next 10 to 20 years and we want NSW to be part of that and we want the Hunter to be at the heart of that".

She also states a trial will help the residents in the Hunter understand more about driverless cars.

"That is something a trial will do. It will give people a flavour of what autonomous vehicles will look like on our roads, how they will interact with the rest of our infrastructure in our city.

"So that is actually why it is so important to have a trial to give people the confidence around autonomous vehicles. There are challenges as well of course with these emerging technologies and we need to learn about those."

Swansea MP Yasmin Catley, Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp,
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes & Shadow Minister for Roads Jodi Mckay

Transport Minister makes big announcements for Newcastle

BY RACHEL STORER

The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Andrew Constance was today in Newcastle to join the Minister for Planning, Anthony Roberts and Parliamentary Secretary, Scot MacDonald for a press conference regarding the revitalisation of the city.

Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Andrew Constance.

Mr Constance made two announcements today: the first about the Newcastle light rail and the second about "The Store" site on Hunter Street.

Newcastle will be home to an exciting Australian first - wire-free light rail.

"This is technology tried and tested overseas in places like France. The energy for the vehicle will be stored onboard and there will be charge points at the stations," Mr Constance said.

"It means Hunter Street won't have any overhead wiring and that will add to the aesthetic value of the Hunter Street precinct."

Mr Constance followed this with the announcement that the "The Store" site on Hunter Street is being taken to market, gathering expressions of interest on how best to use the space.

The state government bought the site in 2015 and has remained practically silent on its plans until now.

"My expectations are to look for the best use but also incorporate a bus and coach interchange, coupled with some commercial opportunities which will, of course, interface incredibly well with the new Wickham interchange," Mr Constance said.

"We'll see the old, run-down car park being removed along with some of the dilapidated, old buildings and that will enable us to progress with the new precinct."

Mr Constance said he was very excited and pleased to be able to make these announcements today.