00:00Pink is the new black for travellers on the Sydenham to Bankstown line.
00:07New buses ready to take on the thousands of people who use the route every day.
00:12The South West Link or colloquially known as our pink buses are ready for action.
00:18We have the drivers present, we have the vehicles.
00:22And the government has revealed the line will shut down at the end of next month.
00:27Three bus routes will take its place with one all stop service, an express route stopping
00:33at six stations and another operating to Canterbury and Campsie.
00:37We recognise that this will be difficult for these communities but in the end that pain
00:43will be worth it.
00:45It's alright but it's a little bit of a hassle yeah.
00:48We'd have to take the bus to Sydenham and obviously that's packed, currently it's hot,
00:53it's going to be a mess.
00:54These South West Link buses will run throughout the day with services every two to four minutes
00:59during peak times.
01:00The government has warned trips will take significantly longer but they're compensating
01:04passengers with free travel for the duration of the shutdown.
01:08There is light at the end of the tunnel, this will be a painful process and that's one of
01:11the reasons why we're making these replacement buses free.
01:15Commuters had previously been told the metro conversion would be completed in around 12
01:20months.
01:21Now the government has acknowledged that timeline could blow out.
01:24We don't want passengers on replacement buses a day longer than they need to but I do want
01:28to be upfront with passengers, this is a very complex project and it may take a little longer.
01:34We saw Metro West delayed, Sydney Metro delayed, the Parramatta Light Rail delayed and now
01:39possibly the conversion delayed as well.
01:41Slower travel for now with the aim of speeding up Sydney's rail system.
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