Re: [NSW] East Hills line amplificaiton

["Bradley Torr" <truenorth@one.net.au.SPAMTRAP>]

Chris Downs <cvdowns@ozemail.com.au> wrote in article
<Ga2T6.2418$QW4.98835@ozemail.com.au>...

> As for East Hills and historical inertia, the enlightened choice would
have
> been Holsworthy (is that a new bigger car park they're building?). 

I sure as hell hope so!

When I lived in Casula a few years ago, I would drive to Holsworthy and
commute by train into the inner city from there. The carpark was
consistently packed by 8am, and by 8:30am cars were parked on the grass
verges, in the bus turnaround roadway, anywhere it was possible! By 9:00am
it just wasn't worth it - when I did afternoon shifts, I'd just catch the
bus to Liverpool.

The parking shortage was so bad that Westway, the bus company that services
Holsworthy station, got the parking police to start ticketing drivers who
had parked their cars in the roadway that the buses use to go back onto
Heathcote Road because the cars were blocking the buses!

There were also many signs telling people to use Glenfield station (where
much parking was removed with the construction of the freight loop, and was
nearly as congested as Holsworthy) instead, or Liverpool (prescious little
parking) or Warwick Farm (infested with junkies, and congested carpark) or
Casula (infrequent service, very very unsafe and isolated - I used Casula
for a few months, thankfully my car was never stolen!) - not to mention
that the journey from Liverpool or Warwick Farm or Casula was almost 20
minutes longer than from Holsworthy!

I talked to an MP about this matter, and he just said "Well, I don't
understand why people just don't catch the bus to the station." Well, gee,
I wonder why? Two routes - both hourly and with no integration with train
times - service Holsworthy station - 862 (Liverpool to Holsworthy via
Hammondville) and 863 (Liverpool to Holsworthy via Wattle Grove). From
Casula, there were frequent buses to Liverpool station, but the bus is slow
and expensive and the trains from Liverpool take 20 mins longer than from
Holsworthy, and there's no integrated ticketing - why bother? There was a
bus from Casula to Glenfield station (864) but it was only hourly and was
very infrequent southbound in the mornings.

I suggested to an MP that other bus companies should be allowed to serve
Holsworthy station - say, a peak-hour Casula-Wattle Grove-Holsworthy
service, but I was told that this would interrupt the prescious and
monopolistic 'contract area' system. Bus companies 1, Passengers 0.

While abhorrent privately-owned bus services in western Sydney are allowed
to continue by a government that pays only lip service to westies, the
parking situation at stations like Holsworthy can do nought but
deteriorate. A new parking station is better than nothing.

Regards
BT