‘Green’ Bus For Parramatta

25 Sep 2007

As the economic capital of Western Sydney and Australia’s fastest growing region, Parramatta is a city in need of a quick, reliable and low-pollution transport system around its CBD.

Parramatta City Council is answering this need by committing over $1 million to purchase three buses that will provide a free shuttle service throughout the city centre. Council is now looking for ‘green’ minded businesses to support the running of the service year after year. The shuttle service, with a working title ‘free bee’, will loop around the CBD, passing most of the city centre’s key landmarks and destinations.

“Council hopes this ‘free bee’ shuttle bus service will encourage more people to leave their cars at home, or on the city fringe,” Parramatta City Lord Mayor Paul Barber said.

“The ‘free bee’ will offer an accessible, affordable, and flexible service stoping at various key destinations around Parramatta such as the Transport Interchange, Westfield, the Justice Precinct, Riverside Theatres, and the ferry wharf just to name a few,” Cr Barber said.

Council is now researching options such as electric/gas or electric/diesel hybrid models to be able to run the service as environmentally neutral as possible.

“I’ve already explained my number one priority for this city is to focus on improving our environment. This service will only use state-of-the-art buses to keep the city on the move, take away congestion from the city streets and re-enforce Parramatta’s environmental credentials,” Cr Barber said.

The ‘free bee’ will encourage movement and trade within the city, and will be another reason to come to Parramatta, whether you are a shopper or a large business. In fact, 70 per cent of Parramatta’s 86,000 jobs are located in the city centre and 30,000 new jobs are projected over the next 25 years.

Council is calling upon organisations to support this initiative through sponsorship to ensure the ‘free bee’ continues to sustain and service this expected employment growth.

“We’ve listened to our residents, who put the environment as their number one priority for Parramatta. Now we need forward-thinking businesses to join us to help deliver this service on a long-term basis. By sponsoring this initiative businesses will be able to advertise themselves and their green credentials to increasingly environmentally conscious customers,” Cr Barber said.