An on-demand transport service will begin operating in Newcastle during morning and afternoon peak-hour periods in an attempt to get city workers out of their cars and onto public transport.
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City of Newcastle, in conjunction with operator Keolis Downer, will trial the service for a year. It will allow people to book a ride, via an app, to collect them from a pick-up point and take them to a point of interest in the city.
Three vehicles, two six-passenger cars and an 11-passenger van with wheel-chair access, will operate weekdays from 6.30am to 9am and 3.30pm to 6pm.
Users of the service, which will cost $3.20 per trip, would be picked up from one area zone and taken to another.
One zone includes Bar Beach, Merewether, The Junction, The Hill, Cooks Hill, Hamilton South and East, and parts of Hamilton and Broadmeadow.
The other takes in Newcastle, parts of Wickham, and Newcastle West and East.
The service will not cater to people wanting to travel within a single zone. Existing bus, train and light rail routes will serve those travellers.
"The trial of the on-demand service is just another way Newcastle is forging ahead as a modern and smart city," Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said.
"It presents a new and flexible way for commuters to make their journey into the city for work and has the potential to remove cars from the city centre, opening up more car spaces in and around the city."
The potential to free up car spaces will be welcome news to those Newcastle traders that have pointed to a lack of parking as a reason for dwindled trade over the past couple of years.
The announcement of the on-demand trial comes after City of Newcastle refused to let the stadium to city park-and-ride service die when state government funding ended earlier this year and backed it for another 12 months.
It is also comes ahead of the council launching an autonomous vehicle shuttle in coming months.
Cr Nelmes said the on-demand service supported council's long-term planning and ambition for higher levels of public transport patronage and active travel.
The trial is part of council's Smart Moves Newcastle initiative, which received $5 million from the federal government's Smart Cities and Suburbs Program in 2017.
"The trial's aim is to encourage Novocastrians and visitors to take advantage of public transport options in the city," she said.
"The service area has been designed to support public transport use by including key transport nodes such as Newcastle interchange and Broadmeadow Station.
"It's a stress-free way to travel to work, head into the city to shop or attend appointments."
Bookings for council's on-demand service will be made using the Newcastle Transport app, in a similar way to using the company's on-demand bus service in east Lake Macquarie.
Newcastle Transport operator Keolis Downer expanded that on-demand zone in June, with the buses now servicing an area from Charlestown to Belmont, Dudley and Valentine.
The expansion of the zone drew criticism from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union after it was revealed some fixed-route bus services would be reduced in frequency from one to two-hour intervals.
There has been a substantial increase in the amount of on-demand transport operating in NSW in recent years and with mixed success.
While a few state government-funded on-demand services in parts of Sydney have taken off, others have been criticised for low patronage and some scrapped due to high operating costs.
When the Baird government announced Keolis Downer would run Newcastle's privatised transport network in 2016, Transport Minister Andrew Constance said traditional timetables would be "cast aside" in favour of demand-driven services.
"On-demand buses will be a dynamic part of the public transport mix in Newcastle," he said in 2016.
"You can dial for a pizza, why shouldn't you be able to dial for a bus right to your door? It offers incredible benefits, especially for people travelling outside the peak period, and who need a transport option outside the fixed routes."
City of Newcastle and Keolis Downer are also set to begin operating a small autonomous shuttle along Newcastle Harbour.
The 12-person vehicle was unveiled in July and has been undergoing testing at Keolis Downer's bus depot in Hamilton over recent weeks.
The vehicle is expected be tested on its anticipated Wharf Road route in coming weeks before it begins public shuttles in the new year once final approvals are obtained.
