WITH a honk of a horn, three NSW TrainLink bus trial services officially kicked off from Tamworth on Monday morning.
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Passengers boarded the bright orange coaches to Scone, Dubbo and Port Macquarie on the first day of the new services with hopes there’d be enough interest to run the routes on a permanent basis.
For Paula Milburn, her trip to Dubbo on Monday was the first leg on a holiday full of family visits.
She said the travel was made much easier with the new service.
Doreen and Bruce Nicholls were on their way back to Parkes after spending the weekend celebrating their son’s birthday in Tamworth.
It was a hard slog to get to the country music capital after having to travel via Newcastle to get here, but the pair were relieved their direct coach journey on the way home would be much shorter.
While the numbers on Monday’s maiden journeys didn’t fill the buses, Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson said he expected passenger numbers to increase when the word got out.
“The community called for better transport options in and out of Tamworth and it’s day one,” he said.
“We’d always want more passengers but we’ve had 10 going to Dubbo and four going to Port Macquarie and a handful or so go to Scone.
“You’ve got to offer the service and ultimately the service will get known and then people will use it.
“I’m confident it will lift. It’s a use it or lose it (initiative) these are expensive runs but you’ve got to put these transport options on and we need to open it up.”
In Tamworth on Monday, NSW TrainkLink director for North and Central Brad Dixon did not rule out the possibility of another daily rail service between Tamworth to Newcastle if the demand for the coach services was high.
However, he said it was dependent on the number of “rolling stock” available.
