Outer Sydney residents face higher car costs due to public transport scarcity

When Caitlin Webster had her baby earlier this year, she could not leave the house for six weeks.

She lives in the car-dependent outer south-western Sydney suburb of Wilton, which is only serviced by one bus route that does not go near her house.

Following her caesarean section, she was not able to drive for weeks, leaving her housebound.

"I was going a bit crazy," Ms Webster said.

"Even to get up to our local shops … It would take me over two hours to walk there.

It takes Ms Webster 25 minutes to drive to her work in Narellan, a trip that would take 1 hour and 40 minutes if she took public transport using the infrequent bus service, a train from Picton to Campbelltown, then another bus to Narellan.

"I have no idea how you get out of Wilton if you don't have a car," Ms Webster said.

According to the Outer Western Sydney Alliance (OWSA), just 12 per cent of Wollondilly Shire Council area residents have regular public transport within 400 metres of home.

In Wollondilly and Camden local council areas, residents live almost 9 kilometres from the nearest train station on average.

Car-dependent region residents spend thousands on vehicles

The scarcity of public transport in Sydney's growing outer west has prompted the group of councils to call for more investment in rail and bus infrastructure.

Penrith Mayor Todd Carney, who chairs OWSA, said residents were spending about $39,000 a year more on vehicle costs than inner-city residents and often lived in multi-car households.

"We're looking to take over 30 per cent of the future population growth of Sydney into our region," Cr Carney said.

"We just haven't had that underlying infrastructure that's really required to make vibrant and really connected communities.

"For someone to go from the north of Western Sydney to the south of Western Sydney, you just can't do it unless you go into the CBD and back out again."

The OWSA said it expected about 38 per cent of Sydney's population growth, which would take its population beyond 1.4 million by 2046.

Cr Carney said the priorities should be funding rail and Sydney Metro links between Tallawong in the north to Campbelltown in the south via the soon-to-open Western Sydney Airport.

The Western Sydney Airport Sydney Metro line between St Marys and Bradfield is due to open next year; however, Premier Chris Minns has suggested it could be delayed until 2028.

North-west rail study en route

New South Wales Transport Minister John Graham said the government had invested $140 million into business cases for connecting the Sydney Metro from Tallawong to St Mary's and from Bradfield to Campbelltown and Leppington.

Mr Graham also said $302 million had been put into establishing five permanent new bus routes in Narellan, Oran Park and Mount Druitt, which began running in July.

The five services run between the new Western Sydney airport and the major transport hubs of Liverpool, Campbelltown, Penrith and Mount Druitt.

"Part of the problem is the former government's strategy of pushing all new housing development into Western Sydney without building the infrastructure to match," Mr Graham said.

"We're addressing that by making sure the rest of Sydney takes its fair share of new housing, and by delivering better public transport in Western Sydney."

NSW Shadow Transport Minister Natalie Ward said the Liberal-National Coalition had committed to expanding Sydney Metro and a new Western Sydney City deal to coordinate infrastructure delivery across the three levels of government.

"Western and south-western Sydney communities are suffering because transport investment has failed to keep pace with growth," Ms Ward said.

"Clearly more investment is needed, but the government seems more focused on spruiking investment in the Hunter than on south-western Sydney."