Sydney buses: Bayside Council raises bus service concerns with NSW Bus Industry Taskforce

Bus cancellations, lengthy wait times, delays and inconvenient routes continue to plague the bus network. Now, a Sydney council has revealed its wish list to improve local services.

Bayside Council has raised a number of concerns about bus services in the area. Picture: John Appleyard

Bus cancellations, lengthy wait times, delays and inconvenient routes continue to plague the Sydney bus network with Bayside Council advocating for improved services for its residents.

Bayside Council has written a letter to NSW Bus Industry Taskforce outlining the concerning service performance issues with the existing bus network in the area – now run by newly-appointed private operator U-Go Mobility.

Concerns include poor service – cancelled buses or long wait times – and modifications to well-established routes that were undertaken in 2021.

Bayside Council general manager Meredith Wallace said “minor adjustments to services” disrupted the lives of those who rely on the bus to attend essential services, employment and education.

“With the current significant driver shortages, regular service cancellations, lack of priority bus lanes, and poor amenity at bus stops and interchanges, there is still some way to go before … bus transport will be an efficient, cost-effective and enjoyable transport solution for our community,” she said.

The Sydney bus network is plagued with issues. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

“Bayside Council would like to see a streamlined bus network that provides more frequent, more reliable public transport services between strategic centres, serviced by high-quality kerbside bus infrastructure.

“Bus services removed from the southeast prior to privatisation must be reinstated.”

Resident Monica Struzman said buses never ran to timetable for her Monterey to Rockdale railway station commute.

“Even using the app, multiple times the bus just randomly doesn’t show up/disappears. It says it arrived but never actually did so its cancelled but they don’t update the app. You wait even longer or give up and get an Uber,” she said.

Nikki Louise said the 958 bus which runs from Rockdale/Kogarah area had improved since last term but there were still cancellations.

“I understand it’s not always a busy route but when it’s the only bus that does that route it’s very inconvenient,” she said.

Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

While another woman Rose Ali said the 478 service did not match up to the trains at Rockdale making her wait up to 40 minutes.

Parent Petros Koulouris said his son’s school bus did not turn up every second day.

U-Go Mobility has two main services in Bayside, being 947 (Dolls Point, Kogarah to Hurstville) and 446 (Kogarah, Bexley North to Roselands) and school services.

A reduced timetable is currently in place with 12 per cent of trips removed in a bid to improve reliability of remaining services and to prioritise school runs.

Ms Wallace said Kogarah and Randwick Health and Education Strategic Centres, and St Vincent Health Precinct, served a considerable workforce and student population with the community repeatedly stating major improvements to public transport accessibility were needed.

In its submission, the council requested an additional service to directly connect the health and education precincts on either side of the Bayside council area at Kogarah and Randwick.

The council also advocated for additional express bus services along the main commuting corridors; with more real time data on service frequency and how cut services impact accessibility, walking time to the nearest stop and total journey time.

Ms Wallace also noted the council needed state government money to fund bus stop infrastructure.