Transport for NSW Information guide

Introduction

The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009(GIPA Act) provides members of the public with a right of access to government information. The GIPA Act replaced the Freedom of Information Act 1989.

Under the GIPA Act, each NSW Government department and agency is required to publish an Agency Information Guide.

This Information Guide provides a general description of:

• our agency’s structure and functions,
• the way in which our functions affect members of the public,
• how members of the public can participate in policy formulation and provide feedback,
• the kinds of information we hold, and
• information we make publicly available.

The Information Guides for other agencies in the transport cluster can be found here.

Transport for NSW

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is the lead agency of the NSW Transport cluster. Our role is to lead the development of a safe, efficient, integrated transport system that keeps people and goods moving, connects communities and shapes the future of our cities, centres and regions.

We are responsible for strategy, planning, policy, regulation, funding allocation and other non-service delivery functions for all modes of transport in NSW including road, rail, ferry, light rail, point to point, regional air, community transport, cycling and walking.

We focus on improving the customer experience and contract public and private operators to deliver customer-focused transport services on our behalf.

Transport operating agencies, such as Sydney Metro, Sydney Trains, Point to Point Commission and NSW Trains, focus on service delivery – providing safe, reliable, clean and efficient transport services.

Structure and functions

Coordination of GIPA functions in the Transport cluster

Organisational Structure

The following are the divisions and transport agencies that make up the organisational structure of the transport cluster:

• • Greater Sydney
  • Regional and Outer Metropolitan
  • Infrastructure and Place
  • Safety, Environment and Regulation
  • Customer Strategy and Technology
  • Office of the Secretary
  • Corporate Services
  • People and Culture
  • Cities and Active Transport
  • Finance and Investment
  • Office of the Co-ordinator General
  • Transition Office
  • Sydney Metro
  • Point to Point Transport Commission
  • Sydney Trains
  • NSW Trains
  • State Transit Authority
  • Sydney Ferries

Roads and Maritime Services (RMS): By virtue of the Transport Administration Amendment (RMS Dissolution) Act 2019, RMS was dissolved as from 1 December 2019 and all of its functions, assets, rights (including immunities) and liabilities were transferred to TfNSW.

The State Transit Authority was instituted under Part 3 of the Transport Administration Act 1988 (TA Act). It was a state owned bus operator and ceased trading from 2 April 2022 at the completion of a process of awarding contracts for the provision of bus services to the private sector. More information about the current private bus operators can be found here.

Sydney Ferries was instituted under Part 3A of the TA Act. Its objective to deliver ferry services was contracted to the private sector from 2012. The current operator of Sydney Ferries is Transdev Sydney Ferries. TfNSW is responsible for contracting passenger ferry services throughout the State. TfNSW publishes its Ferry route register and details of the licenced operators here.

Information management for these agencies has been transferred to TfNSW.

Accountabilities of the TfNSW divisions

Greater Sydney

The purpose of the division is to redefine integrated transport choices to improve the lives of customers and communities, making Greater Sydney a better place to live, work and play. Its accountabilities are:

• Integrated transport services: Design, develop and deliver integrated transport services for customers and communities across Greater Sydney.
• Customer, stakeholder and community engagement: Be the face of Transport and engage with customers, stakeholders and community around integrated transport choices.
• Operating the transport network: Plan, build, maintain and operate the Greater Sydney transport network.
• Investment portfolio: Manage the Greater Sydney investment portfolio to deliver customer value.
• Service and Asset management: Procure, commission and manage projects, services and assets.
• Integrated service planning and scheduling: Provide integrated near-term and inform long- term integrated service planning and scheduling.
• Safety and wellbeing: Provide a safe environment for our people, partners and customers.
• Working together: Work in partnership with other Transport divisions and across government on strategy and planning.

Greater Sydney is comprised of the Office of the Deputy Secretary, Community and Place; Planning and Programs; Finance and Commercial; Western Sydney Aerotropolis and Strategy and Implementation. Greater Sydney also has accountabilities for bus procurement.

Regional and Outer Metropolitan (ROM)

ROM’s purpose is to elevate community voices, connect the regions of NSW to create a vibrant future and give focus to regional transport and freight.   

The ROM division (including NSW TrainLink) plays a key role in the Transport cluster by connecting our customers to integrated transport services and infrastructure to satisfy the growing needs and expectations of our regions and communities. ROM, in recognising that regional and rural customers have a different experience of the transport network than their urban counterparts, aims to make NSW a better place to live, work and visit through engaging with its customers and communities through its key priorities including:

• Public transport: plan, build, manage and maintain safe, reliable, sustainable, accessible, and resilient public transport that connects the road, rail and freight networks throughout NSW. This includes coordination of contract management of regional and outer metropolitan bus services, community and On-Demand transport and fleet management.
• Freight network management: delivery planning advice to Government on freight supportive developments through the engagement across government and industry to set Policy and Strategy for the movement of freight to ensure the delivery of initiatives to support the optimised movement of freight.
• Community engagement: drive thriving communities in regional NSW by partnering across Government and industry to connect people with the places they live, work, and play. ROM supports effective land use and development and delivers education programs through community, stakeholders and Government consultation and engagement to enhance safety behaviour on our roads and railways.
• Asset management: influence and bolster economic growth by investing in capital infrastructure to improve efficiency and economic returns for the state representing customer/community needs for major infrastructure projects, network development and planning and natural disaster recovery with a build back better approach.
• Network and operations management: deliver programs to improve vital freight access to road and rail networks to ensure our network operates effectively via daily operations, access management, incident response, emergency management and special event management.

From the Northern Rivers to the Snowy Mountains, from the Eastern coast to the Far West. The Illawarra, South Coast, Riverina, Central West, Blue Mountains, Sydney, New England and everything in between. ROM has services extending into Canberra, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. ROM connects the regions to each other, and to the rest of Australia.

Infrastructure and Place

The purpose of the division is to be a trusted partner to our clients, developing and delivering smart, integrated and sustainable infrastructure and places that are valued by our customers and communities. Its accountabilities are:

• Infrastructure development and delivery: Develop and safely deliver transport infrastructure projects and outcomes as commissioned by the client leading up to and from successful Investment Gate 0 (Go/No Go), to Investment Gate 5 (Readiness for Service), through to handover.
• Project management and assurance: Provide the expertise, frameworks, methodologies, systems, reporting and assurance to enable the delivery of quality infrastructure projects on time and within budget.
• Commercial management and project financing: Ensure sound commercial management of our projects through development and deployment of tools, frameworks and capabilities throughout the project lifecycle, as well as development, execution and management of project financing strategies including private sector financing and concession arrangements.
• Technical services: Provide specialised technical capability and services for the multi-modal delivery, operations and management of our transport network to deliver a sustainable future.
• Precinct renewal and place making: Develop, integrate and embed place-making principles within infrastructure planning and development and lead all precinct renewal projects through the project lifecycle to enable the development and delivery of successful places.
• Asset optimisation and recycling: Identify and execute opportunities for asset optimisation and recycling and value creation through rezoning and property development to unlock financial value. Lead development transactions through partnerships with industry and other Government departments including statutory and strategic planning.
• Infrastructure industry engagement and partnering: Develop industry wide capability, competencies, and outcomes as well as driving and fostering innovation throughout the sector that is aligned and coordinated with customer divisions.

Infrastructure and Place delivers these outcomes throughout NSW working in partnership with client divisions and industry partners lead by its seven branches including IP Development, Rail Delivery, Sydney Project Delivery, Regional Project Delivery, Technical Services, Commercial, Performance and Strategy and Portfolio Optimisation and Industry.

Customer Strategy and Technology

The purpose of the division is to set the future direction and lead the state-wide alignment and enablement of end-to-end, integrated, customer and community experiences and outcomes. Its accountabilities are:

• The future of transport: Imagine and plan the transport network and infrastructure that our state will need over the long-term, bringing a customer focus and future-lens to shaping urban designs which ensure TfNSW’s legacy is delivered across physical environments and architecture for the benefit of current and future customers.
• National and global partnerships: Lead the cluster’s relationship with other jurisdictions and international partners to shape strategic policy, technology and customer agendas.
• Data and insights: Harness data and insights to drive planning and decision-making and lead data governance, strategy and management across the organisation.
• SCATS: Lead the product, strategy, marketing, design, development, partnering and management of the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System.
• Technology: Take a leadership role in engaging across the Cluster to deliver and manage world-leading customer and operational technologies, systems and data services, and be at the forefront of innovation.
• Customer experience and products: Manage feedback and champion the voice of the customer across Transport, define and develop world-class end-to-end customer journeys, products, services and places.
• Customer strategy: Enable a “fit for purpose” public transport system in NSW through deep understanding of our customers, including their behaviours, needs and pain points. Provide "customer informed" strategic direction for mobility solutions of the future.
• Integrated customer services: Build, maintain and operate integrated ticketing, tolling, information and service channels.
• Communications: Bring Transport’s brand to life and communicate its strategy, initiatives and achievements to our customers, communities and stakeholders through marketing campaigns and sponsorships delivered through proactive, operational and social media.
• Collaboration: Provide capability and collaborate across government, industry and research sectors to deliver world class mobility solutions across our projects, programs and services. projects, programs, and services.

Office of the Secretary

The Office of the Secretary supports the Secretary of Transport for NSW to develop and deliver the things that matter most across transport in NSW for our customers, our people and the greater good. Its accountabilities include:

• Government Relations: Provides whole of cluster lens and manages cluster and whole of government relationships with external agencies, jurisdictions and organisations.
• Business Services: Leads the Business Services function for the Secretary and Senior leadership team to support and ensure the efficient functioning of the Office of the Secretary to facilitate effective problem solving and good decision making.
• Cabinet Services: Manages the Cabinet process for the Transport cluster, ensuring all Transport cluster submissions meet Government requirements and deadlines. Ensures that the cluster effectively contributes to the Government’s broader cabinet agenda and provides a strategic advisory service to help Ministers, the Secretary and Executive, divisions and agencies, navigate the Cabinet process to facilitate good decision making.
• Executive Secretariat and Strategic Programs: Embedding best practice governance, compliance, regulatory and legislative activities, corporate planning and reporting across the Office of the Secretary for the benefit of the whole of Transport.
• Strategic Issues & Engagement: Enhances Transport’s strategic visibility by developing and delivering effective Secretary communications across its external and internal environments to enable the cluster to effectively respond to emerging risks and opportunities, ensuring consistent leadership messaging across Transport.

Corporate Services

The purpose of the division is to provide strategies, solutions and services to assist our clients to deliver projects more efficiently and effectively. Its accountabilities are:

• Shared Services: Supplies Transport divisions and agencies with specialised services in finance, payroll and people transactions, workers compensation, facilities, travel, fleet, procurement and external customer services for rebates, inquiries, and government schemes. These services include advice, transactions, inquiries, contract management and project delivery.
• Information technology and services: Provides and supports quality and secure technology solutions that enhance the experience of our clients and people cultivating good stewardship of resources.
• Strategy development:  Leads the development of integrated corporate strategies and business plans, drives outcomes-based decision-making aligned to our budget and measures performance to drive strategy delivery.
• Strategic procurement: Leads a consistent and integrated cluster-wide approach to procurement to deliver commercial outcomes for Transport.
• Transformation and change: Advises and delivers transformational strategic programs that create value, drive financial sustainability and deliver enabling services for effective change management capabilities that are well aligned to client needs.
• Corporate governance: Provides assurance mechanisms, frameworks, systems and processes that are aligned to support Transport's business objectives and purpose, while effectively managing strategic and financial risk and meeting compliance requirements.
• Legal services: Provides effective legal advice and services to meet our clients’ expectations, deliver value, advocate for Transport across government and safeguard Transport’s corporate reputation.
• Audit, fraud and corruption: Provides effective management of internal audit processes and fraud and corruption investigations, ensuring robust internal controls are in place. 
• Privacy and information access: Helps Transport protect privacy by incorporating privacy into the design and delivery of future transport systems and facilitates the public’s access to government information in line with community expectations and our legal obligations.

People and Culture

The purpose of the division is to partner across Transport to drive workforce solutions that align to business outcomes and support our people to thrive. Its accountabilities are:

• Culture: Create a culture that puts customer at the centre, people at the heart, and works together for the greater good.
• Talent and Learning: Enable the Transport Cluster to attract, develop and retain the best people.
• Evolving Work: Plan and prepare for the future workforce requirements of Transport.
• People Strategy: Set and drive the strategic direction for the people and culture of Transport, supporting our people to build their skills and capabilities throughout their career at Transport.
• Employment practices: Ensure reporting obligations, compliance and people risk management requirements are met.
• Workplaces: Achieve workplaces which enable greater flexibility and collaboration, with great technology.
• Leading: Shaping Transport through leadership in everyday moments demonstrated through the Five ways of leading our culture through making smart choices, entrusting others, accepting the challenge, encouraging the heart and forging new paths.

Safety, Environment and Regulation

The purpose of the Division is to work together to deliver globally recognised, safe, sustainable transport for our people, customers, and the community. The Division is working Towards Zero vision on our roads and waterways by 2050 and 2056 respectively, and net zero emissions for the Transport sector by 2050. Its accountabilities are:

• Strategy and policy: Develop and communicate evidence-based safety, environment, security, crisis and emergency management, and regulatory strategy and policy for our people, customers, and the community.
• Frameworks: Create, deliver and maintain clear, outcome -focused governance and assurance frameworks, policies, standards and regulatory programs to enable consistent delivery and continuous improvement.
• Assurance: Provide risk-based guidance, support, tools, evaluation, and assurance to provide confidence to customers and the community on the security, safety and environmental sustainability of the Transport network.
• People: Provide subject matter expertise, thought leadership and education to develop and support safety, security, crisis and emergency management, regulatory and environmental awareness and capability for our people, customers, and the community.
• Sustainability: Provide innovative, safe, sustainable solutions that deliver whole of life value to the customer and the community.
• Safety:Lead the transport industry in NSW to deliver safety improvements and engineering solutions and, deliver road and maritime safety outcomes. Embed consistent, best practice safety controls, security processes and systems across Transport to support our people to build a resilient Transport network.
• Customer experience: Collaborate with government agencies on a consistent, easy to navigate and digital approach to enhance customer experience to improve safety regulatory and environmental awareness and capability.
• Regulatory and innovation: Deliver and support road safety regulation that enhances safety and compliance, ensuring only fit and competent drivers and operators and compliant vehicles can use the transport network. Enable the safe rollout of emerging Transport options and digital customer solutions. Support future changes to regulation and modernise existing systems to improve data insights on regulatory performance, overall user experience and customer service.
• Environment:Embed the principles of social, economic, and environmental sustainability, accountability, risk management and continuous improvement in decision making across Transport. Drive change in the face of emerging environmental risks.

Cities and Active Transport

The purpose of this division is to ensure our cities and neighbourhoods are integrated with transport, making our places, streets, and open spaces functional, beautiful, inclusive, resilient, and inviting for all. We do this through creating alignment with our partners on strategic outcomes and a focus on excellence in placemaking through quality design and use of data and activation to deliver great experiences for the citizens of NSW.  Its accountabilities are:

• Active Travel The custodian of active transport outcomes across NSW providing portfolio oversight of end-to end delivery and drives improved connectivity and travel choices through programs and initiatives that define and enable sustainable travel and effective integration.
• Urban Policy and Integration: Connecting people to place by resolving city and precinct shaping issues collaboratively, as well as developing policy that can be implemented within a five year window.
• Place and Precinct Revitalisation: Leading programs and driving change to create walkable, safe, and welcoming places that are beautiful and inviting for everyone to access and enjoy. We enable vibrant and connected precincts that are the heart of great everyday journeys.
• Smart places: Helping cities and urban centres stay sustainable, connected and economically vibrant by encouraging innovative approaches to place making through connected technologies and data solutions that make customers’ lives easier.

Finance and Investment

This division is the custodian of Transport’s finances. It provides department-wide finance and investment planning, management, reporting and analysis services to deliver Transport’s outcomes. The division partners with internal and external stakeholders with a purpose of achieving their objectives while delivering value for money with a focus on achieving efficiencies in its programs. Its accountabilities are:

• Enterprise Planning, Budgeting & Analytics (EPBA): is responsible for overarching stewardship of the Transport cluster’s finances and for enabling Transport to plan and prioritise against its outcomes, as well as supporting strategic decision-making on resource allocation and the provision of performance reporting and tools.
• Future Sustainability (FS): identifies and drives enterprise-wide effectiveness and efficiency initiatives supporting investment towards Future Transport.
• Capital Portfolio Management (CPM): provides insightful analysis, rigorous processes, and strategic perspectives for decision-making and governance for the capital projects portfolio.
• Investment and Assurance (I&A): is responsible for the development, prioritisation, assessment, and assurance of the Transport cluster investment portfolio, ensuring investment decision-making is evidence-based and infrastructure solutions deliver targeted benefits and value for money, and contribute to achieving Transport cluster outcomes.
• Finance Business Partnering (FBP):supports strategic and operational financial advice, expertise, and support across the Transport cluster by enabling informed management decisions, driving business performance improvements, and focusing on consistent, high quality financial services delivery.
• Financial Accounting and Control (FAC): leads the delivery of all statutory accounting, compliance, and financial management for the cluster, as well as being a finance centre of expertise for technical accounting frameworks, and other specialist financial services including treasury, taxation, and insurance.
• Finance Enablement and Governance (FE&G): leads strategic projects, finance systems improvements, transformations, continuous improvement, and financial management framework governance.

Office of the Coordinator General

The Office of the Coordinator General was established to support the Transport cluster’s focus on service delivery and is accountable for bus, ferry, and light rail, reporting directly to the Secretary. Its accountabilities include:

• Public Transport Contracts and Partnerships: Operational delivery of service projects and management of ongoing service contracts including strategic contracts management and public transport asset stewardship across buses, ferries and light rail.
• NSW Maritime: Operational policy and performance, maritime infrastructure and service delivery, industry and environment, operations and compliance and education, communications, and stakeholder engagement.
• Customer Journey Planning: Managing planned changes to networks and services that impact on customer journeys including high risk and complex network access for infrastructure, short term trip generating activities and major events. Operationalising of network changes, new assets and service changes and managing customer journey improvement including travel demand management and travel choices.
• Customer Journey Management: Overseeing network performance and network disruption management in response to unplanned network incidents and disruptions including real-time customer communication, driver-aid services and critical infrastructure resilience and security coordinated through the Transport Management Centre.
• Road Maintenance and Motorway Contracts: Operational delivery and management of Roads and ITS infrastructure maintenance contracts and Sydney Roads Asset and Performance contracts including motorways concessions and tolling policy, commercial and business support, Sydney Harbour bridge maintenance and road asset stewardship.
• Strategic Operations: Reporting on-time running performance data including over height vehicle incident data to facilitate multi-modal operational effectiveness, innovation and intelligence by delivering operational strategy and transformation.
• Communications Strategy & Media: Managing the overarching communications strategy for planned disruptions in Greater Sydney as the central communications point for unplanned disruption overseeing service change communications and customer engagement for infrastructure projects.

Transition Office

The Transition Office was established as a temporary program management office to provide coordination of the Transport agencies’ advice, data and other inputs into the independent reviews across the Transport cluster. Its accountabilities include:

• Independent Reviews: To date, the Transition Office has supported the NSW Bus Industry Taskforce, the Sydney Trains Rail Infrastructure and System Review, the Sydney Metro Review, the NSW Strategic Infrastructure Review and the Federal Infrastructure Review.
• Coordination and management: The engagement of reviewers, program management and other governance arrangements including coordinating briefings, data, advice to reviewers and assistance with report preparation.
• Stakeholder engagement: Overseeing and facilitating stakeholder and community engagement for submission to the reviews.
• Ministerial support: Advising the Minister and Transport Executive on the progress of the reviews, and supporting the implementation of recommendations.
• Governance and change management: Program management of Transport’s implementation of review recommendations, including governance, risk and financial management including supporting the transitions of TAHE.

The way in which our functions affect members of the public

Who are our customers?

Our customers are those who derive a direct benefit from using the transport system and the services we offer. There are very few people in NSW who are not our customers; most of us are pedestrians and many of us rely on the road and public transport networks in our daily lives.

How are our customers affected by what we do?

TfNSW was established to ensure coordinated planning and policy across all modes of transport. This means that TfNSW develops regulations, policies and legislation to ensure that transport is delivered to a high standard, community needs are met, assets and public money are protected, environmental impact is minimised, and the community is safe.

In addition to its broader policy, planning and coordination efforts across NSW, TfNSW has administrative responsibilities for the following:

• Regulation of buses, coaches and intrastate air services in NSW. Regulation of buses, coaches and intrastate air services in NSW. TfNSW is also responsible for the contracts under which public and private operators provide customer rail, light rail, bus, coach, ferry and On Demandservices;
• The On Demandservices, which is a flexible public transport service designed to improve connections to transport hubs and popular destinations like shopping centres or hospitals;
• The Community Transport Program(providing transport for disadvantaged people with access to recreation, shopping, medical care, social services and social contact);
• The Country Passenger Transport Infrastructure Grants Scheme(provides subsidies to support the construction or upgrade of bus stop infrastructure generally owned and maintained by local councils across regional NSW);
• The Transport Access Regional Partnerships Grants Program (supports initiatives to improve services and outcomes for transport disadvantaged groups in rural and regional communities;
• The School Student Transport Scheme(providing subsidised school travel across NSW;
• The Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme(assisting members of the public who cannot use public transport due to severe and permanent disability);
• The Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Driver Incentive Scheme(providing incentive to qualified drivers to improve the accessibility, reliability and response times for Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme participants who require a wheelchair at all times for travel); and
• The Opal Ticketing System(providing customers with an electronic ticketing system for travel on public transport in the greater Sydney area).

TfNSW also provides diverse and extensive services that satisfy the needs of its customers, including:

• Building and maintaining infrastructure
• Providing licence and registration services
• Providing safety measures for road and maritime and safe management services
• Delivering traffic management services
• Delivering environmental solutions
• Managing tolling services
• Regulating users and compliance on roads and waterways

TfNSW also administers a range of road and maritime related laws.

Public participation and feedback

TfNSW works closely with stakeholders and the wider community to continuously improve services and achieve better outcomes for our customers.

Stakeholder and community engagement is all about establishing and maintaining a connection with our communities. We work hard at improving stakeholder relationships by maintaining a general presence within the community, and by initiating and encouraging open dialogue between TfNSW, the wider community and other stakeholder groups.

Customer insights are critical to transport planning and TfNSW actively seeks public participation and feedback in policy development, transport planning and ongoing service delivery. This is achieved through engagement in public consultation about our functions and policies, use of formal feedback channels such as the NSW Government Have Your Sayweb portal, surveys, calls for public submissions under legislation and use of expert panels.

The TfNSW website also provides access to the Transport Infrastructure Industry Portal. This is an online destination and a source of information for our suppliers, partners and contractors. Here we post up-to-date information, regular updates about industry initiatives and events and the anticipated transport project pipeline. It is also a place to provide feedback and advice about our engagement with the community.

TfNSW welcomes feedback regarding the services it provides as well as about general transport services or issues. Customers can visit the www.transportnsw.infowebpage to obtain information on transport services (including real-time status alerts), ask questions, provide feedback on a service, make a complaint or plan their trip.

Transport Functions and Service Delivery

TfNSW is committed to meaningful community engagement in Transport service delivery and new projects and initiatives. Placing the customer at the centre of everything we do is at the heart of all our transport service and infrastructure decisions.

Transport projects involve significant community consultation at each stage of planning and delivery. TfNSW actively promotes consideration of customer feedback throughout the project lifecycle. This includes project-specific community and stakeholder engagement plans to support project delivery from planning through to commissioning.

Engagement during the project development phase is undertaken to inform stakeholders and the broader community about proposed projects requiring feasibility investigations, business case development and concept designs. Engagement during project delivery includes communication during the course of delivering a project, from planning approval right through to construction and commissioning. This process includes specific consultation on environmental factors associated with initiatives.

TfNSW requires its contractors to meet a high standard of community liaison under their contractual obligations, ensuring that community notification and consultation are incorporated into project planning and programs through project-specific community and stakeholder engagement plans. We engage positively with the community to ensure the best transport outcomes for everybody.

For details of current and completed projects, and opportunities for community participation, please visit the TfNSW Community Engagementwebpage.

To find out more about both the long-term objectives and short-term construction impacts of our major infrastructure projects, as well as the latest information as the transformation progresses, including trip planning advice for motorists, public transport customers and commercial drivers, please visit the Tomorrow’s Sydneywebsite.

Transport leads the development of safe, integrated and efficient transport systems for the people of NSW. As part of its commitment to develop practical solutions to promote safety in NSW, The Centre for Road Safety publishes information about TfNSW’s road safety strategies, including the 2026 Road Safety Action Plan, annual progress reports, road safety data sets, advertising campaigns, education and behavioural based programs, collaboration with the community and its approach to designing solutions to improve safety on roads in NSW, including mobile phone cameras which are aimed at reducing distractions to drivers and mobile speed cameras which promote safe driving behaviour.

For more information about how and why speed cameras work, see where speed cameras are currently located and have your say to suggest a location for a speed cameraor comment on speed limits and speed limit signs in NSW, please visit the Safer Roads NSW websiteto find out. The comments and suggestions collected through the Safer Roads NSW website, together with crash data and other road safety information is used as part of the speed zone prioritisation process.

Transport Policy and Planning

TfNSW values customer feedback and places a high importance on community input to Transport policy development and planning. Our Community Engagement Policyincludes a commitment to keep you informed and give you the opportunity to have your say on our plans and projects. Recent examples of public consultation on transport policy and planning include:

Future Transport Strategy: Our vision for transport in NSW

The Future Transport Strategy: Our vision for transport in NSW was released in September 2022 and provides the strategic direction for connecting people, communities, and businesses in NSW to achieve a successful and thriving future. It replaced the Future Transport 2056 released in 2018 as the 40 year vision for transport in NSW. The Future Transport Strategy sets the direction for future planning, investment, delivery, and operations to ensure our networks are more resilient and efficient, offering our customers more choices, better access, and shorter wait times.

The Future Transport Strategy emphasises improving transport solutions for our passengers and communities, building on the concept of the 30-minute city, enhancing liveability for customers and communities, delivering sustainable transport operations to achieve net zero emissions, managing our infrastructure to ease congestion, offering multimodal transport options, adopting new technologies, managing demand, and building a resilient and reliable transport system.

The Future Transport Strategy was developed in collaboration with other government agencies to ensure the State’s overarching strategies align and complement each other. Transport used a ‘vision and validate’ approach for Future Transport Strategy. This approach starts with a long-term vision and establishes the outcomes we need to deliver that vision for customers and communities.

For more information on the Future Transport Strategy vision please visit the Future Transport Strategy website.

Expert Panels

Type of information held

Information made publicly available

The following categories of information provide a sample of what is made publicly available on the TfNSW website:

• Information about TfNSW
• Information about Road Safety
• Centre for Road Safety Crash Statistics
• Information about national transport reforms
• Information for Transport Operators
• Information about Transport Data and Research
• Information relating to TfNSW Projects
• Data relating to traffic volume
• Information about licensing and vehicle registration
• Information relating to maritime services
• Driver licencing resources, such as the Road Users’ handbook
• Key roads performance report

Open access information

Open access information is a category of information explained further below under ‘Information we must disclose’.

• The TfNSW Information Guide (this publication)
• The TfNSW Annual Report
• The TfNSW Disclosure Log of access applications
• TfNSW Policies and Procedures
• Register of TfNSW contracts awarded

For further information, please contact the TfNSW Information Access Unit on (02) 9549 9904 or by email to information@transport.nsw.gov.au.

Other publications on TfNSW’s website

• Customer Charter
• Previous years key roads performance report
• The TfNSW Statement of Business Ethics
• The Transport Code of Conduct
• Transport Statement of Business Ethics
• Other publications and reports

Open Data Policy

TfNSW is committed to Open Data that meets community needs and expectations. The Open Data Forum is for the community of data consumers interested in working with TfNSW’s open data. All feedback and discussions are welcomed. The forum provides direct access to TfNSW and agency staff as well as other developers, researchers and data analysts.

The TfNSW open data practice is aligned to the NSW Government Open Data Policy and seeks to make appropriate government data available to industry and the community. Open data supports the open government principles of transparency, participation, collaboration and innovation. It augments the proactive release of information required under the GIPA Act.

TfNSW is committed to embedding open data principles at all levels of the cluster as this can lead to faster, smarter, more responsive service delivery. It promotes the development of new businesses and industries that can make use of government data, facilitates data sharing between government agencies and enhances our own awareness, understanding and use of information.

We embed Open Data principles across the Transport cluster by:

• Engaging with industry and the community to understand their needs for transport data.
• Prioritising for release any high-value datasets, especially those identified through industry and community engagement.
• Releasing data under open licence wherever possible.
• Protecting data where required on the grounds of privacy, security, confidentiality legal privilege or public interest.

A range of open transport data is available via the TfNSW Open Data Hub which includes public transport and roads real-time data, statistical data and timetable data.

How to access information we hold

The GIPA Act provides members of the public with a right to access government information.

There are four ways that members of the public can access government information held by TfNSW under the GIPA Act.

• Mandatory proactive release (Open Access Information)
• Authorised proactive release
• Informal release
• Access applications

Information we must disclose

Information classified as Open Access Information (OAI) is the type of information which TfNSW must make publicly available, unless it is not in the public interest to do so.

TfNSW makes OAI publicly available on its website free of charge, including this publication (agency information guide), information about TfNSW tabled in Parliament (such as the TfNSW Annual Report), policy documents, the TfNSW register of government contracts and the agency disclosure log of access applications.

Information proactively released

TfNSW is required to have a program for the proactive release of government information.

Proactive disclosure is the manner in which TfNSW considers making information publicly available where appropriate. The proactive disclosure of information helps provide the public with greater access to government held information.

TfNSW has a Proactive Disclosure Committee that meets regularly to consider and recommend information suitable for proactive disclosure.

If information sought is not available on TfNSW’s website, members of the public can suggest that information be proactively disclosed (if held).

Please forward any suggestions to the Information Access Unit by email to information@transport.nsw.gov.au.

Informal requests for information

TfNSW is authorised to release information in response to an informal request for information. However, any such release is only permitted if there is not an overriding public interest against disclosure and may be subject to conditions.

Unlike with a (formal) access application, a request for the informal release of information under the GIPA Act does not entitle the requester to any rights of review in respect of the agency decision.

Formal access applications

In some cases, requests for information held by TfNSW will need to be made through the formal access application process.

To make a request for information held by TfNSW an access application must:

• be in writing and addressed to the agency,
• clearly indicate that it is a formal access application made under the GIPA Act,
• provide a payment of $30 (by cheque, money order or credit card),
• provide the name of the applicant and a postal or email address for correspondence in connection with the application; and
• include such information as is reasonably necessary to enable the government information applied for to be identified.

If your application does not meet the above requirements, it will be invalid and it will not be processed. However, in order to help you make a valid application, we will contact you to provide advice and assistance.

You may make an online applicationfor information.

OR

You may send your application by post with a payment by cheque or money order to: Information Access Unit

Transport for NSW PO Box K659

Haymarket NSW 1240

If you would like to make an access application, please see How to apply and FAQson our website.

Formal access application fees and charges

Apart from the $30 application fee, the GIPA Act allows TfNSW to impose a charge of $30 per hour in order to process an application. The application fee counts towards the first hour of processing.

In processing a formal access application, TfNSW is required to ensure that it is dealt with efficiently and provides access to information requested at the lowest reasonable cost.

A 50% discount in processing charges will apply if an applicant demonstrates they fall within any of the following categories:

• A member of the public suffering financial hardship;
• The information applied for is of special benefit to the public;
• The holder of a current Pensioner Concession Card;
• Full-time students;
• Non-profit organisations.

Please note that the 50% discount applies only to processing charges and not to the $30 application fee.

If applying for your own personal information, TfNSW cannot charge you for the first 20 hours of processing your application.

For further information about fees and charges, please see the Fees and Chargessection on our website, or contact the Information Access Unit on (02) 9549 9904 or at information@transport.nsw.gov.au.

Requests for personal information can also be made under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

Review rights

You have the right to request a review of certain decisions made by TfNSW in response to a formal access application. For further information, please view the NSW Information and Privacy Commission’s publication ‘Your review rights under the GIPA Act’

Other information for which there is special request procedure

CCTV Footage Requests

Transport agencies operate and maintain a number of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV cameras) which are used for security and monitoring purposes.

Some of these CCTV cameras are only used to monitor and do not record footage. For example, traffic monitoring cameras including live traffic cameras generally do not record footage.

Safety cameras (speeding and red light) do not record CCTV footage or take images except when activated.

Except where a particular incident has been identified, most footage is retained for one to two weeks only.

Members of the public can request access to CCTV footage that transport agencies hold.  As footage is usually only kept for a short time, we deal informally with any request for CCTV footage.

Please send a written request for footage to: information@transport.nsw.gov.au.

In your request, please provide as much specific information about the time, location and details of the incident.

Upon receiving your request, we will endeavour to save and retrieve any relevant footage.

Should we locate and retrieve relevant footage, we will contact you to provide you with the option of applying for formal access to the footage under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). All applications require a standard $30 application fee.

This form can be used to request access to CCTV footage (PDF, 265.76 KB).

PLEASE NOTE: Requests for CCTV footage from buses should be requested directly from the relevant bus carrier:

Important information about CCTV requests

As with all access applications, we must consider a number of factors set out in the GIPA Act before deciding whether to release any footage.

Unfortunately, this may mean we decide that we cannot grant you access to the requested footage, or we may only allow you to view the footage, or only grant you access to part of it.

Also, if there is a lot of footage involved, we may require payment of a processing charge.

In some circumstances we may be able to provide the footage to another agency (such as NSW Police) to help resolve the matter. In any event, if you are not satisfied with the decision about your application, you are entitled to seek a review of the decision.

To request a copy of footage outside of the GIPA Act, the footage should be requested under subpoena to the appropriate agency holding the footage. Enquiries about the relevant agency may be sent to: information@transport.nsw.gov.au.

Information about obtaining records under subpoena can be found on the Contact Us page or enquiries can be sent to subpoena@transport.nsw.gov.au.

Lawyers

Solicitors can request certain information about registered operators related to traffic accidents and vessel incidents. This information can be requested outside of the GIPA Act and specified costs apply. More information is available on this webpage.

Liquidators and Bankruptcy Trustees

Liquidators and Trustees in Bankruptcy are authorised to apply for certain information held by TfNSW under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). This information can be requested outside of the GIPA Act and specified costs applied. More information and access to the forms are available here.

Registration and Licencing Statistics

Members of the public can request information about registration and licencing statistics that is not already available on our website. Costs apply consistent with the volume of work required for each request. Such requests can be made directly to the administrators of the Driver and Vehicle System database (DRIVES) by email to: External_Data_Requests@nsw.gov.au.

Corporate Maritime Property

Property owners, leaseholders or their agents can access Corporate Maritime Property files to allow them to search for historical records, including leasing and development records relating to wetland properties within Sydney Harbour and other maritime wetlands. Applicants will be able to view all available files in respect to the nominated wetland properties and will be able to request copies of identified documents. The process by which customers may access this information is described on the Corporate Property Files webpage, which also sets out contact details. There is no fee payable for viewing a file, but there are costs associated with photocopying from it.

Traffic Requests

Detailed reports on the operation of traffic signals that can be used as evidence in a court of law in traffic law cases can be obtained from the Transport Management Centre. Fees apply for this service. Information about fees and requests for reports, and, the contact details is available here.

Deceased Estates

Executors and administrators of deceased estates may apply directly to TfNSW to conduct a vehicle ownership search of the deceased estate. Fees apply for this service and evidence of the appointment will need to be provided in support of the application. More information and a copy of the application forms are available here.

Police and Government Agencies for Law Enforcement

Police and government agencies may apply directly to the agency to access information for law enforcement purposes. More information about these services is available here.

Contact us

For further information relating to the disclosure of government information held by TfNSW, the Information Access Unit can be contacted on the details below:

Post Information Access Unit Transport for NSW

PO Box K659

Haymarket NSW 1240

Email              information@transport.nsw.gov.au

Phone             (02) 9549 9904

For more information about the GIPA Act and your right to access information (including review rights) contact the NSW Information and Privacy Commission:

Post GPO Box 7011 Sydney NSW 2001

Email              ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au

Web                http://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au

Phone             1800 472 679

Last updated: January 2024