Sydney finally embraces CBD light rail as patronage surges

Passengers on Sydney’s $3 billion CBD and south-east light rail line have more than doubled in a year, a major turnaround from a nose dive in patronage during the worst of the pandemic.

After an inauspicious start in late 2019, new figures show that average daily patronage for the trams running on the line between Circular Quay and both Randwick and Kingsford totalled 86,444 tap-ons in February, up from 41,400 a day in the same month a year earlier.

Patronage on the light rail line has soared over the past year.Credit: Oscar Colman

Mathew Hounsell, a researcher at the University of Technology’s transport research centre, said the figures revealed how “massively popular” the light rail line had become because of its frequency and reliability. “If you build something that is easy to understand, convenient and reliable, people will use it,” he said.

Average daily tap-ons of Opal cards and mobile devices by commuters at stops along George Street in the CBD surged by 123 per cent to almost 46,000 in February, compared with the same month in 2022.

Stops at Circular Quay, Chinatown and Central Station are easily the busiest, each averaging well over 10,000 people a day tapping on in February.

Hounsell said patronage from 10am to 3pm on Saturdays was also higher than the same period on weekdays, while usage was strong on both Friday and Saturday evenings.

Trams began carrying passengers along George Street in December 2019, just months before the pandemic led to the introduction of restrictions which severely dented patronage. Before it opened, the line’s construction had been dogged by cost blowouts, repeated delays, legal battles and disruption to businesses and residents.

However, the latest data shows total patronage on the Randwick branch of the line – dubbed L2 – was 1.14 million trips in February, compared with 550,330 in the same month a year earlier. Patronage on the Kingsford branch – the L3 – was 1.28 million in February, up from 609,142 previously.

End-to-end journey times on the 67-metre trams have reduced to less than 35 minutes, from about 50 minutes in the weeks after the line opened.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said changes to traffic signals and the council extending the pedestrianised sections of George Street in the CBD both north and south had helped to make journeys faster.

“These improvements have made light rail an even more popular option,” she said. “Light rail has transformed George Street, both in how we get around and how we experience the city.”

Moore said it justified an extra stop being added in Surry Hills – it has only one – which would benefit residents in Redfern and Waterloo, as well as those in eastern parts of Surry Hills.

Transport for NSW chief operations officer Howard Collins said the light rail was also the clear choice for commuters who were travelling to entertainment precincts at Moore Park and Randwick. “We always run extra services for medium and large-scale events to help cope with the extra load and lines tend to move quickly,” he said.

During major events, trams travelling towards the CBD operate every 2.5 minutes and every 10 minutes for those heading south-east.

“It’s encouraging to see people travelling on the light rail in record numbers. But everyone also needs to realise that trams are quiet and unable to stop quickly, so I urge people to always look, listen and be alert around the light rail network,” he said.

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou said the light rail system might have had a difficult birth, but it had come into its own in helping to revitalise the CBD. “The evidence is there for all to see with record patronage in February and constant activity at CBD locations,” he said.

Nicolaou said consideration should be given to building a light rail line along Parramatta Road, which would help spur medium-rise housing along that arterial route.

Detailed plans for a light rail line along Parramatta Road linking the CBD to Burwood were developed by Transport for NSW more than six years ago, but later abandoned.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.