The landmark new line connecting Sydney’s northwest under the harbour for the first time, and below the CBD to Sydenham has received an overwhelmingly positive response from passengers.
On Friday night alone, from 5pm to close, 64,000 people opted to take the metro to and from their destination – the highest patronage figure for that time slot across the week.
To celebrate and welcome Sydneysiders to their new public transport service, a community day is being held with events for the whole family to enjoy between 10am and 3pm today.
Passengers will be able to ‘station hop’ on trains arriving every five minutes over the weekend, operating to a special event timetable.
From 9pm on Saturday and Sunday, the normal weekend timetable will come into effect with trains running every 10 minutes until closing.
At Barangaroo Station, there will be a bipartisan event to thank the workers who helped build this new M1 line and in recognition of all NSW Governments who have made Sydney Metro a reality.
A total of 2,125 new turn-up-and-go City Metro services have seen passengers get home early, and to work in around half the time, since the inaugural passenger train departed Sydenham Station at 4:54 on Monday morning.
In its first five days of service, Metro has maintained a 99 per cent reliability rate, while 600 passenger feedback surveys, received via QR code at stations and on trains, recorded 86 per cent of passengers rating their experience as “easy”.
Over the coming days and weeks, while passengers become familiar with their new city services, additional staff will be present at each station and on trains during operating hours.
Audio and video help points located at each station also connect directly to friendly staff at Metro’s Operations Control Centre who will be available to answer enquiries.
While all city stations are now open, passengers will notice hoarding and minor ongoing work in the precinct areas at most new stations. This work largely involves improvements to roads, footpaths and traffic intersections and will not impact passenger journeys.
The new buildings above Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Gadigal and Waterloo stations remain under construction and will progressively open as they are completed.
For more information on today’s events visit: sydneymetro.info/article/sydney-metro-open-day.
Passengers can plan their metro journey by visiting transportnsw.info.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said:
“I want to again thank the 50,000 workers who built our new railway, and give credit to former premiers, some of whom are joining us today to thank the workers behind this project.
“What an incredible first week of metro. With fast and reliable services running with ease below Sydney’s busiest streets, it’s hard now to imagine our city without it.
“We are now forging ahead with the next phase of this transport mega-project through Western Sydney allowing us to turbocharge the delivery of more housing close to world-class public transport.”
Minister for Transport Jo Haylen said:
“Sydney has never been more connected than it is right now thanks to the magic of metro, and 1,042,000 passengers have proven that in the past five days.
“This week, history was made in our city – and with more than one million passengers and counting, it’s clear public transport is the heartbeat of Sydney’s future.
“I’m so excited to celebrate this new service in style and welcome the community to their new M1 line this weekend, including many who haven’t yet had the chance to hop on board.
“This is not just a network for weekday commuters, metro is the family mode – fully accessible to all, from the elderly to mums with prams. We want to see more people heading into the CBD on weekends.”
