Construction has begun at the site of Sydney’s first purpose-built electric bus depot at Macquarie Park.
The new depot in Sydney’s north will charge and operate 150 cleaner, quieter electric buses and is an important moment for the NSW Government’s phased transition for the state’s 8,000-strong diesel and gas fleet over the next two decades.
Contractor Fulton Hogan started work on the Talavera Road site this week. Construction of the jointly-funded depot is expected to be completed and operational in 2028.
Once open, the depot will employ 160 staff, including drivers, maintenance workers and administration personnel.
The new buses at Macquarie Park will support the existing Ryde and Willoughby depots that were opened in 1953 and 1958 respectively, enhancing service delivery across Sydney’s lower north shore, northwest suburbs, Ryde and Parramatta.
“The sight of shovels going into the ground at Macquarie Park is a major step on the path to transitioning our very large NSW bus fleet to the cleaner, quieter, smoother ride of electric buses,” said NSW Minister for Transport, John Graham.
“The buses that charge up here will be a welcome addition for passengers from Parramatta to Ryde and highly bus dependent suburbs across Sydney’s northwest and lower north shore.
“The electric bus transformation is providing welcome local jobs in the construction phase and in the transport sector once this high-tech depot is operational.”
The new depot will have both standard (75-kilowatt) and fast (150-kilowatt) plug-in charging infrastructure, enabling the electric buses to travel up to 300 kilometres on a single charge.
In September last year, Brookvale became the first of Sydney’s 11 bus depots to be fitted out for the electric transformation, with Australia’s first gantry-mounted, fast-charging station installed.
Leichhardt and Kingsgrove are expected to have electric bus charging technology installed later this year.
The Australian and NSW governments have each committed $115 million to jointly fund the Zero Emission Buses Tranche 1 Infrastructure – Macquarie Park Depot project.
“This depot will support new technology buses and local jobs, to deliver smoother and quieter trips for passengers across the lower north shore, north-west Sydney, Ryde and Parramatta,” said NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Transport, Marjorie O’Neill.
“The multi-billion-dollar program will progressively transition NSW’s 8000-plus diesel and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) public transport buses to electric buses over the next two decades.”
