The Lower North Shore has experienced its fair share of bus cancellations and delays due to the State-wide driver shortage. North Shore Living investigates.
The debate on the quality of the bus services on the Lower North Shore is heating up, following the recent establishment of a Bus Industry Taskforce (the Taskforce) by the Minns’ Labor Government.
The Taskforce is to play a key role in dealing with the consequences of bus privatisation under the previous State Government. It will help ‘determine the priorities that will deliver more efficient and reliable services, that puts passengers at the centre of service delivery’.
Marjorie O’Neill, Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and NSW Minister for Transport Jo Haylen have assembled industry experts together to improve bus services.
“Local routes have been scrapped, leaving people isolated,” Dr O’Neill says. “Services are being cancelled without notice. This needs to change.”
One of the routes scrapped was North Shore route 272, which ran from Chatswood to the Sydney CBD via Willoughby. This was replaced by route 120 in January, 2021.
Private bus company Busways, which runs the Lower North Shore service, announced additional morning 120 services earlier this year.
But this still didn’t make the cut, according to Willoughby commuter Ken Wilson. He was so frustrated earlier this year that he chartered his own ‘272’ from funds raised through GoFundMe.
Mr Wilson, along with other passengers rode the ‘pirate bus,’ some dressed as pirates. As well as the 272 route, they ran the 340 route to Bondi, another route that had been canned.
Passengers are often left waiting at bus stops for a bus that is suddenly cancelled, he says.
Mr Wilson says the bus companies get fined for cancellations and buses running late, but the fine for cancelling a bus is less than the fine for delays. “That explains why your bus disappears,” he says.
The Taskforce has been allocated a 12-month period to undertake investigations into bus services.
Liberal Member for Willoughby, Tim James, thinks that is too far into the future. “We already know what the issues are, and we know what is needed to address them,” he said recently in NSW Parliament. “So I encourage the government to get on with it and implement the plan that has already been developed.”
Mr James also claimed in Parliament that the newly formed Taskforce was ‘recycling the former Government’s solutions, such as streamlining training processes and reducing red tape’.
“I will continue to take real action—much more than mere reviews that take 12 months’.
The Taskforce is holding passenger forums to get passenger feedback, the first of which was held in June in Dee Why. Dr O’Neill was present at the forum which heard feedback from around 50 locals.
“(The community discussed) the frequency or route of their local bus services, bus stop infrastructure, how they get customer information or whether their bus is going to show up,” she says.
Independent Member for Wakehurst Michael Regan, who also attended the forum, says he is ‘optimistic’ following a ‘full and frank’ discussion with bus company Keolis Downer, who runs Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore routes, and Transport NSW.
“I told (them) that I expect full services back in operation before Christmas,” he says. He believes this is achievable, as Keolis Downer is working to address the current workforce shortage.
Further state-wide forums are planned, and Dr O’Neill says the community will be informed.
Over in Willoughby, Mr Wilson’s ‘pirate bus’ charter was short lived, as it cost about $400 per service.
“I thought it could work,” he says. “We only ran a couple of services after raising $1,200.”
Mr Wilson says the extra buses on route 120 are not enough. As the 120 comes from Chatswood, it is often full by the time it gets to Willoughby, he claims.
Marjorie O’Neill looking for solutions.
Tim James reiterated in parliament that people ‘just want their bus services fixed’.
“Commuters standing in queues at bus stops across Willoughby as full buses sail past do not want excuses.”
The ‘pirate bus’ was never sustainable, according to Mr James. “I’ve been working on delivering real solutions for commuters, not just stunts,” he told North Shore Living.
Mr Wilson took umbrage at the local MP’s efforts. “Tim James pretended to take an interest in buses,” he counter-claimed. “But he’d just sort of disappear into the Porsche shop.”
Michael Regan and Marjorie O’Neill collaborate at the Taskforce forum.
The pirate bus ‘stunt’ was well-publicised, and Mr Wilson hopes that the 272 will return at some stage.
“They’ve got to get back to moving people,” he argues. “And that’s what went wrong with privatisation: there’s no incentive to move anyone.”
The Taskforce has already made some preliminary findings, including that in 2022, new driver applicants were asked to provide extra proof they could legally work in Australia –already a requirement of immigration laws – and as a consequence, 142 had their driver authority suspended and couldn’t work.
As a solution, the Taskforce plans to scrap the requirement for drivers to prove their right to work in Australia to Transport for NSW, putting the onus on bus companies. The $70 application fee will also be removed.
Meanwhile, Busways says it needs over 100 drivers in the Willoughby and Ryde depots, often leaving commuters waiting on the curb for delayed or cancelled routes. The company has a permanent message on its website, saying that due to driver shortages, buses may be operating at ‘reduced service levels’. Keolis Downer made further changes to its services in July, cutting even more services as a result of the driver shortage.
“We know that our services are not meeting passenger expectations, and we are working hard to get more drivers safely on to the road,” a spokesperson for Keolis Downer said in a recent statement.
The company acknowledges the impact that bus cancellations have had and thanks passengers for ‘their patience and understanding’.
Patience might wear thin, as many private bus companies are on eight-year contracts, and any improvements to services are not going to happen overnight.
The final report is due to from the Taskforce in May 2024, so passengers will have to be patient a while longer.
