Liberal MP Sidoti rocks the boat over ferry wharf closure More buses and ferries under new timetable Sydney's new transport timetable will have 1700 extra weekly bus services and 55 more ferry trips, all co-ordinated in an attempt to cut waiting times. PT1M24S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2ubt4 620 349 September 24, 2013 - 4:51PM When choosing a local member to stand next to while announcing a new transport policy, it's best to check the local member is, in fact, on board. Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday released timetables she said would add more than 1750 new public transport services a week to Sydney, largely buses in the city's west, but would also include the closure of two ferry wharves. She announced the timetables, to begin on October 20, at a press conference at Cabarita Wharf next to Liberal MP for Drummoyne John Sidoti, who cut a silent presence during the event. The ferry timetable includes the closure of a wharf at Bayview Park, which is the next wharf east of Cabarita on the south side of the Parramatta River and also in Mr Sidoti's electorate. Pressing on: Gladys Berejiklian. Mr Sidoti said later he had felt "very awkward" during the press conference. "I'm not going to sell a Nutella sandwich when I don't believe it is right," he said of the closure of the Bayview Park wharf. That service - not under the previous government and not under us - it was never given a fair go. Ms Berejiklian is closing the wharf because Transport for NSW says it is used by only 28 people a day. But Mr Sidoti, and numerous locals, say the wharf was used by many people before 2010, when the former Labor government cut services to four a day. This artificially lowered patronage to the extent the wharf could no longer be justified; a process Mr Sidoti said the O'Farrell government had been "complicit" in. Awkward: John Sidoti. "They've listened to the bureaucrats," he said. They never gave it a chance - not the previous government, not our government. I feel I've let down my constituents in that area. The other ferry wharf Ms Berejiklian is closing is at Balmain West, which the department says is used by 48 people a day. The Greens member for Balmain, Jamie Parker, is also resisting that closure. The Balmain West wharf is wheelchair accessible, while the more heavily used Balmain East wharf is not. The new public transport timetables, billed as the "biggest change in a generation," will deliver just 55 new ferry services a week, many of which are on more heavily used wharves on the Parramatta River such as Cabarita. Ms Berejiklian said there were almost 1300 new bus services in western Sydney, with significantly increased frequencies around Blacktown. There were another 429 new buses in the inner west, with another bus route from Dulwich Hill to Tempe. On the north shore, there were increased frequencies for a number of buses that connect to wharves at Cremorne, McMahons Point and Mosman, while there were few extra buses for the eastern suburbs where a light rail line is being built from the CBD to Randwick and Kensington. New train timetables also begin on October 20, which Ms Berejiklian said would deliver 1000 extra services a week, adding it was the first time rail, bus and ferry schedules had been developed in concert.