Eastern suburbs bus changes: Andrew Constance speaks

The NSW Transport Minister has defended controversial plans to make sweeping changes to bus services but has admitted it is not too late to make amendments.

The NSW Transport Minister has conceded not all customers will benefit from a proposed shake-up of bus services in the eastern suburbs as thousands of submissions have poured in about the controversial changes.

However, he claims there will be more frequent bus services on offer following the changes and there is a lot of misinformation about the plans.

The State Government announced early this month sweeping changes were in the pipeline for bus services in the eastern suburbs and southeast Sydney including plans for 25 bus routes to be cut, 11 bus routes to be introduced, and a further 23 routes to be modified.

The controversial proposal has already attracted a whopping 4300 submissions in the first three weeks since it was released for public feedback.

NSW Minister for Transport Andrew Constance has defended the plans. Picture: Joel Carrett

The proposal has also attracted plenty of community backlash and a rally has been called for this Sunday in Randwick to fight the plans.

Local MPs, Randwick Council, some schools, and the NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union are among those who have called for the plans to be dropped.

Coogee state Labor MP Marjorie O’Neill has labelled the move as “forcing people to use the light rail” and has written to residents in the area to encourage them to attend the upcoming rally and make a submission.

Mr Constance told the Southern Courier this week there was a lot of misinformation about the proposed changes and claimed Ms O’Neill had “done a pretty good hash job of scaring everyone”.

Coogee MP Marjorie O'Neill.

He said exact details of the changes were not definite and “we put this out as a proposal so that we could get feedback” before moving ahead with any plans.

He claimed the changes would include more frequent buses, faster “headways” on express routes, and routes were being updated off the back of Opal card data.

He conceded “I can’t say every single customer will benefit because that would be misleading” but claimed the “overwhelming majority” of people using buses and the light rail would see benefits.

Mr Constance said he was unapologetic about encouraging people to use the light rail, and changes were always going to be made to bus services after the light rail was introduced from the CBD to Kingsford and Randwick.

The popular 373 bus from Coogee to the CBD is set to go under the proposal. Picture: John Grainger

“We don’t go and spend billions of dollars and not encourage people to use the light rail.

“I am unapologetic about that. The satisfaction rate is at 96 per cent (for the light rail).

“I’m unashamedly pro-light rail for getting people from the southeast into the city.

“It is there to be used and we were always going to (make changes) to the buses.”

He encouraged people to study the proposed bus changes and make submissions about routes that would affect them.

He also revealed he had plans to roll out a similar model of buses to the B-Line buses, used on the northern beaches, around Eastgardens in the future.

Meriton is building over 4000 apartments in Eastgardens as part of the Pagewood Green project and Mr Constance said “something of a similar nature” to the B-Line buses would be introduced in the medium term to address that spike in residents.

More information on the proposed bus changes including where the new and modified routes will run can be found here.

The plans are currently open for public feedback until June 18.

Bus changes in Sydney’s southeast:

11 new routes: 306, 310, 350, 350N, 356, 358, 373N, 375, 390X, 392N, 469

25 routes cut: 300, 301, 302, 309X, 310X, 314, 316, 317, 338, 353, 357, 372, 373, 376, 377, 391, 393, 394, 395, 400, 400N, L94, X40, X93, X99

23 routes modified: 303, 304, 307, 309, 313, 320, 339, 339X, 343, 348, 355, 362, 370, 373X, 374, 374X, 377X, 392, 397, 399, 418, 420, 420N