The part of Sydney’s transport network with surprise weekend demand

Lily Bui notices every time the light rail service to Dulwich Hill isn’t running. The 32-year-old opened The Busy Bee Cafe six months ago next to the suburb’s light rail and railway station and said her small business takes a hit whenever passengers are forced to use other routes.

“When the light rail is down, we actually feel the difference,” she says.

Lily Bui at her cafe, The Busy Bee, with the Dulwich Hill light rail stop behind her.Credit: Sam Mooy

She is not surprised by data that shows an increased demand for services from the light rail stop, especially at the weekend.

While the closure of train services from Dulwich Hill in September to allow the metro extension to be built is part of an increased demand for the service, NSW government records from the year before rail services stopped shows a 17 per cent increase in the number of people using the inner west light rail on weekends.

The four light rail lines – Dulwich Hill, Randwick, Kingsford and Parramatta – have hosted 150 million trips since the Dulwich Hill line opened in 1997, with an average of 118,437 trips recorded each weekday citywide.

While the newly opened Parramatta line is falling short of its patronage targets by a significant margin, the government is responding to the Dulwich Hill demand.

Transport Minister John Graham announced an additional 48 services on the L1 line between 11am and 7pm. From Saturday, passengers can expect to wait eight minutes for a tram, down from 10.

“Light rail has transformed the way millions of people get around the city,” he said. “In response to growing demand on the L1 Dulwich Hill line, we’re adding close to 50 extra weekend services – meaning shorter wait times for passengers, and more capacity.”

Bui welcomed the news of increased services at her cafe on Friday, saying: “When there’s more people using the light rail, there’s more traffic.”

Paddys Market light rail stop on the first weekend of the new food market.Credit: Steven Siewert

She also said the increased tram services will help businesses affected by the metro construction.

Madeleine Jones, 37, and Davie Paterson, 40, used the Dulwich Hill L1 line on Friday to take five-month-old Charlie to the aquarium, though they do not normally use the line even though they live nearby.

Sitting on the light rail with croissants purchased from Bui’s Busy Bee Cafe, Jones said she had only really started using the light rail since the trains stopped.

“It’s convenient for visiting friends who live in the inner west,” she said. Otherwise, the speed of the service and frequency of stops made it much slower than combining bus and train services to get into the city.

Paterson agreed, saying the closure of the train line through Dulwich Hill had been a “massive” interruption. Though he believed it was in part responsible for an increase in light rail users, he said it hadn’t solved the problem.

“It’s been really inconvenient,” he said.

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