A better way to travel: services every 15 minutes

**This article is from 2017. Please check newcastletransport.info or contact us for the latest information**

Newcastle is set to receive better bus and ferry services than ever before when new timetables are introduced next year. High frequency bus services will run every 15 minutes on key corridors, while ferry services, will also run every 15 minutes between Stockton and Newcastle.

Three of the four core bus routes will also connect with the ferry service at Queens Wharf.

Feedback gathered during the Voice of Newcastle community engagement program, including the Citizen’s Panel, showed a clear need for more regular services and reduced waiting times.

“The community told us that they wanted frequent services to popular hubs to make public transport an attractive and viable alternative to travelling by car,” Keolis Downer Hunter Chief Executive Officer Campbell Mason said.

“Here we will provide improved transport for Newcastle to meet the high demand between key activity centers such as John Hunter Hospital, the University, Charlestown, Kotara, Wallsend and the CBD.”

“With services every 15 minutes, you won’t need to check a timetable. If you turn up to a bus stop on a frequent route between 7am and 7pm weekdays the longest you will have to wait for a bus will be 15 minutes.”

“We want to make it simpler for people to get where they want to go.”

These key routes, to be announced when the network is released at the end of November, will be integrated with services connecting suburbs and residential areas.

“I’m excited about these changes. I think having buses as frequent as they are going to be in this timetable will make Newcastle feel like one of the big capital cities,” Citizen Panel member Michael Sykes said.

The new network and timetable comes into effect in January 2018.