Source: Sydney Airport (SYD)
On 1 September 2024, the final stage of Sydney Gateway will open and create a direct link from the St Peters Interchange to the front door of the Domestic precinct. To prepare for the opening, Sydney Airport is introducing a number of congestion easing measures, which could include a taxi dwell charge at the Domestic holding bay from 1 October 2024.
We have been working with Taxi operators and industry throughout 2024 to help reduce Taxi congestion along key roads and these measures haven’t been sufficient to resolve congestion issues.
We continue to see Taxi tailbacks along Sir Reginald Ansett Drive and Shiers Avenue in the afternoon when Taxis are waiting to enter the 300-space Taxi holding bay. This impacts the whole precinct.
Following our ongoing discussions with industry, Sydney Airport has agreed to stage the introduction of a new Taxi dwell charge. This is to discourage Taxis from waiting for long periods at the airport and reduce the total number of Taxis at the Domestic precinct outside of peak hours.
We know drivers need time to adjust to this change, so we’ve set monthly targets for drivers to reduce the volume of Taxis coming to the holding bay.
1 October 2024 target - reduce hourly average wait times to 90mins between 10-5pm. Maximum of 300 vehicles in the holding bay at any time. No Taxi tailbacks into holding bay.
1 November 2024 target - reduce hourly average wait times to 75mins between 10-5pm. Maximum of 260 vehicles in the holding bay at any time. No Taxi tailbacks.
1 December 2024 target - reduce hourly average wait times to 60mins between 10-5pm. Maximum of 230 vehicles in the holding bay at any time. No Taxi tailbacks.
If these targets are met each month, the introduction of the dwell charge will be delayed by 4 weeks. Our message is straightforward – seek alternative job locations during off peak times when the holding bay is congested.
Sharing Data
SYD will provide a weekly report of the average hourly wait time so that drivers know how they are tracking towards each target. We are also working to show live wait times at the holding bay on the Sydney Airport website by the end of September. This will help drivers and radio rooms view the wait times before they go to the airport.
We need your help to share this information with other drivers.
How it will work
If targets are not met by industry, the charge will come into effect after a Taxi has stayed within the holding bay for 61 minutes and will be a flat fee of $10.The time measured will be on entry to the holding bay, until the time the Taxi leaves the holding bay. This is consistent with the dwell charge for rideshare operators.
The dwell charge is not a revenue opportunity for the airport – we would much prefer to see a consistent change in driver behaviour so that drivers aren’t using the airport as a place to wait for 2 or more hours and congesting roads into the airport.
How drivers can help
Drivers can help ease congestion and meet the targets by:
Limiting wait times in the Taxi holding area to less than an hour and not coming to the Domestic precinct if the holding bay is full or close to full. This is particularly important between 10am–4.30pm when passenger numbers are limited.
Leaving the precinct to seek journeys at alternative areas to the airport, instead of re-circulating, when there is Taxi congestion in the precinct, the holding bay is close to full or outside of peak times.
Contacting Taxi radio rooms and other drivers to let them know when the Taxi holding bay is full or close to full to limit the number of drivers coming to the Domestic Precinct.
We ask that Taxis do not flood the International Terminal or wait on local roads and create similar congestion issues in this location. Should this happen, we will still need to enforce the dwell charge.
Thank you for your help to keep traffic moving through the airport precinct.
Domestic Precinct Congestion along Sir Reginald Ansett Drive and Keith Smith Avenue prior to the PM peak, April 2024
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