City Shopping Centre, which subsequently closed and has now been redeveloped. Further building developments are rapidly advancing West Ryde shopping area busier with the arrival of the Coles Supermarket. Granny Smith festival is one of the grand community event happening at the start of spring every year. Transport West Ryde railway station is on the Main Northern line. A bus interchange sits adjacent the station with services of 500N, 500X, 501, 523 524 and 543. At the , 50.7% of employed people travelled to work by car (either as a driver or as a passenger) and 35.5% by public transport . Housing The types of dwellings in West Ryde continues to shift away from the traditional separate houses and towards strata living. At the , 48.1% of occupied private dwellings were flats, units or apartments, 41.0% were separate houses and 9.7% were semi-detached (mostly town houses). The average household size was 2.6 people. West Ryde has a number of historical buildings including Addington, the second oldest extant building in Australia. The domestic architecture of the suburb largely consists of homes on quarter-acre blocks displaying most of the archetypical Australian styles, including Federation houses, Californian Bungalows, Depression-era houses of weatherboard or fibro with corrugated iron roofs, and 1960s red-brick housing. There is also a substantial number of Askin-era red-brick apartment blocks atop half-acre concrete expanses. In the past, West Ryde was a working-class suburb which was home to many factories, especially towards Meadowbank. However, the factories of the past are slowly succumbing to demolition, and the construction of waterfront apartments are taking their place, with views of Parramatta River and Sydney Olympic Park, thus the suburb is growing with affluence. Demographics At the , West Ryde recorded a population of 13,394. Of these: Age distribution West Ryde residents' median age was 35 years, compared to the national median of 38. Children aged 0–14 years made up 16.6% of the population (national average is 18.7%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 12.1% of the population (national average is 15.8%). Ethnic diversity 43.4% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China 12.0%, South Korea 6.8%, India 6.2%, Philippines 2.6% and Hong Kong 2.5%. 40.7% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 12.1%, Korean 8.2%, Cantonese 7.4%, Arabic 3.0% and Hindi 2.4%. Religion The most common responses for