The Liverpool–Parramatta T-way is a continuous series of bus-only lanes and bus roadways between

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

. Completed in February 2003, the T-way was the first bus rapid transit infrastructure to be built in Sydney.Transit Systems secures Region 6 Bus Contract (Final Paragraph)
Transit Systems

Design and construction

A project of the then New South Wales Ministry of Transport and the

Roads & Traffic Authority The Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) was an Statutory authority, agency of the Government of New South Wales responsible for major road infrastructure, licensing of drivers, and registration of motor vehicles. The RTA directly managed state ...

, the T-way cost $346 million to build.Auditor General's Report Liverpool to Parramatta Bus Transitway
Auditor General of NSW December 2005 The route runs through the central business district of

, before heading onto the

Great Western Highway Great Western Highway is a state highway in New South Wales, Australia. From east to west, the highway links Sydney with Bathurst, New South Wales, Bathurst, on the state's Central Tablelands. The highway also has local road names between the ...

to South Wentworthville, after which it heads onto its own alignment next to the

Sydney Water Sydney Water, formally, Sydney Water Corporation, is a Government of New South WalesState-owned corporation, owned statutory authority, statutory corporation that provides potable drinking water, wastewater and some stormwater services to Sydney ...

pipeline that runs from Prospect Reservoir. It then proceeds on its own alignment in an old freeway reservation through to Hoxton Park. At Brickmakers' Creek in

, it heads onto its own alignment to the centre of

and Liverpool railway station bus interchange. The system includes active traffic signal priority to give buses preference where the route crosses other roadways.

Stations

The Liverpool–Parramatta T-way has 35 stations, spaced approximately every 800 metres. These stations are more substantial than conventional bus stops, which has led to criticism that the system is overly costly and vulnerable to vandalism. Stations feature

closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

, real-time information screens, emergency help points, audio announcements and extensive landscaping. One station, Parramatta Station, also forms part of the

North-West T-way The North-West T-way is a continuous series of bus-only lanes and bus roadways between Parramatta, Blacktown and Rouse Hill in Western Sydney. Opened in stages between March and November 2007, the T-way was the second bus rapid transit route t ...

. The other stations are, from Parramatta: Originally there were 36 T-Way stops, however one T-Way stop closed pretty soon after the T-Way opened. Argyle T-Way was on Argyle Street, Parramatta allowing for passengers to alight for Westfield Parramatta.

Services

There are a number of services using portions of the T-way. The only service to have the prefix T is T80, which runs along the whole stretch of the T-way. In the financial year ended June 2012, 2.77 million passengers used the T-way services.State Transit Authority Annual Report
State Transport Authority 30 June 2012 Provision of the service T80 was put out to tender and an eight-year contract awarded to Western Sydney Buses. Services were initially provided by 17 natural-gas

Mercedes-Benz O405 The Mercedes-Benz O405 is a single-decker bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz buses, Mercedes-Benz from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s as either an Bus manufacturing, integral bus or a bus chassis; it was the last VöV-Standard-Bus, VöV SL-II s ...

NH buses in blue and yellow T-way livery. These were replaced in 2004 by diesel

Volvo B12BLE The Volvo B12BLE is a low-entry city and suburban bus chassis launched in 2001 with a rear-mounted transverse engine. It superseded the Volvo B10BLE and is used as a base for single-decker buses largely in Continental Europe and the Asia-Paci ...

s. Since October 2013, services have been operated by

Transit Systems Sydney Transit Systems NSW, previously known as Transit Systems Sydney, is a bus operator in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems. History In November 2012, Transit Systems was awarded a contract by Transport fo ...

as part of its Sydney Bus Region 3 contract. All State Transit bus fleet used for the T-way were transferred to Transit Systems Sydney. The liveries of these buses still show the colours of State Transit, blue and white, with some now in the Transport NSW livery. Buses inherited from State Transit had on-board audio announcements and green automatic validating machines which have since been replaced by Opal validators like other buses. Now it uses double deck, bendy and rigid buses. T80 was the first Rapid bus route in Sydney.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liverpool-Parramatta T-way Bus transport in Sydney Bus rapid transit in Australia Busways 2003 establishments in Australia Transport infrastructure in Parramatta Liverpool, New South Wales