Balmain to get 24-hour weekend bus service in timetable shake-up

Balmain peninsula residents will have access to a 24-hour bus service on weekends for the first time next month, complementing a plan to inject more nightlife into the suburb.

Buses will run the length of Darling Street at least every hour overnight on Fridays and Saturdays under a timetable shake-up for “region six”, which covers Sydney’s inner west, from December 8.

The all-night buses will run along Darling Street’s strip of pubs and restaurants in Balmain and Rozelle.Credit: Dylan Coker

The shake-up follows the opening of the main section of the $21.6 billion metro line between Sydenham and Chatswood in August. Transport authorities say the changes to inner west bus services will support the replacement bus service, dubbed the Southwest Link, running between Sydenham and Bankstown while the line is converted for the metro.

Under the planned adjustments, the 433 bus route between Balmain’s Gladstone Park and Central via North Annandale, Forest Lodge and Glebe, and the 442 route linking Balmain East Wharf to the Queen Victoria Building in the CBD will operate overnight on weekends.

These services will also be tweaked to run at least every 10 minutes between 6.30am and 8.30pm on weekdays, and at least every 20 minutes from 5.30am to 6.30am, and 8.30pm to 12.30am.

The extra services coincide with Inner West Council’s plans to revive “the high street” in Balmain and Rozelle by creating two “special entertainment precincts” where rules for noise and trading hours are relaxed.

Mayor Darcy Byrne declared the all-night buses “could be the shot in the arm” to revive historic drinking holes in the former working-class suburbs.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the round-the-clock bus services would give inner west residents another option to get home after a night out.

“We are always looking at ways to improve frequency and reliability of our bus network, which means providing more services on some of our popular routes and reducing them where the demand isn’t there,” Haylen said.

The other timetable changes mean weekday services will run more frequently – at least every 10 minutes – on route 423 from Kingsgrove to Martin Place via Earlwood and King Street in Newtown.

Route 425 between Tempe and Dulwich Hill will be replaced with extra services on route 418 between Burwood and Sydenham to connect Marrickville, Dulwich Hill and Hurlstone Park passengers with Sydenham Metro Station and trains at Ashfield and Burwood.

The shake-up includes tweaks to services along Victoria Road to the city.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Extra morning and evening services on route 420 between Mascot Station and Burwood will aim to improve connections to Sydney Airport. There will also be adjustments to some Victoria Road services stopping at Drummoyne, Chiswick and Five Dock, and to city-bound services on routes 426, 428 and 430 along King Street in Newtown.

Route 503 between Town Hall and Drummoyne has been axed, to be replaced by extra services along route 504 between the city centre and Chiswick.

In addition, buses will run along route 526 between Burwood and Rhodes shopping centre at least every 10 minutes, seven days a week, connecting Rhodes, Sydney Olympic Park and Strathfield.

Haylen said the changes were intended to “support improved bus connections and service reliability, giving passengers the connections they need for seamless connections to other transport options”.

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