Packed like a can of sardines. If you’ve ever travelled on the Sydney Metro during morning peak hour, you’re probably nodding in agreement. Sydneysiders have well and truly embraced the extension of the metro, but with popularity comes potential crowding, especially during the morning rush. And where does it get busiest? The Sydney Morning Herald has revealed that the M1 line gets particularly jam-packed at Crows Nest, which is the morning hot spot for city-bound commuters.
Metro trains at Crows Nest Station depart at 82 per cent capacity during the 8 to 9am rush, and it’s projected to get more crowded, with ongoing residential and office developments in the area. Crows Nest's packed factor is closely followed by Chatswood (which depart at 77 per cent capacity), Victoria Cross in North Sydney (at 76 per cent capacity), and North Ryde (at 69 per cent capacity).
So, where is everyone going? New data reveals that Martin Place Station recorded an average of 17,000 taps between 6.30am and 10am on weekdays in February – well above the 2024 forecast of 15,600. Gadigal Station (Town Hall) also surpassed projections, hitting 9,700 average taps in February, up from a forecast of 7,500.
To give you a sense of scale, full capacity on these driverless metro trains is 1,152 passengers – that’s all 378 seats taken plus standing passengers. Morning peaks tend to be busier than evenings, with school and office start times overlapping, while the trip home tends to be more spread out because people tend to head home at different times.
Currently, the metro has trains running every four minutes in both directions between Tallawong and Sydenham during peak periods. If this time between trains were to be reduced to every three minutes, it would help ease crowding – but would also require the procurement of 14 more (very expensive) trains. Another option being floated? Adding two more carriages to the current six-car metro trains.
Sydney Metro’s chief executive Peter Regan confirmed that there are no current plans to change anything. Instead, they will be monitoring travel patterns, especially ahead of the final stage opening of the M1 line from Sydenham to Bankstown in late 2025. And hey, considering they come every four minutes and travel so speedily to your destination, you're really only squeezing in for a short time – we can confirm it gets a whole lot squishier on a Tokyo train.
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