Gold Coast bus routes being cut due to extreme driver shortage

Gold Coast bus passengers are on the route to nowhere as they contend with widespread cancellations, writes Ann Wason Moore.

While we’re all so focused on fighting over the tram, there is a true public transportation catastrophe on our roads right now.

I’m talking about buses.

Whether you consider the light rail essential or anathema, there is no arguing that buses have always been and will always be the backbone of our transport network.

And right now, that backbone is all but broken … just look at the signs.

People wait at the Gold Coast University Hospital. Picture: Mike Batterham

No, really, look at the signs. Because the ones at the front of the bus that should advertise the route and final destination are instead flashing an emergency signal that reads: “Drivers Wanted.”

As an avid listener to ABC Gold Coast, it’s become a daily occurrence to hear announcers read out the list of routes being cancelled by TransLink due to a desperate drought of drivers.

At 3pm on Thursday alone, listeners were warned of yet another three cancelled routes: the 3.46pm 740 route, the 3.51pm 712 route and the 3.50pm 713 route … all caused by staff shortages.

Drive presenter Julie Clift said in her three years in the job, she has never read out so many cancellations as the past few months.

While it seems there are staff shortages in almost every industry across the country thanks to the pandemic, we can’t blame this crisis entirely on Covid.

Transport Workers Union director of organising Jared Abbott says while the pandemic might have been the trigger for some older drivers to quit, it’s the underlying issues in the industry which have seen the problem compound into a crisis over the last few months.

A Surfside bus at Broadbeach. Picture: Glenn Hampson

“It’s been the same problem since June. We had a number of drivers in the older demographic who left due to the risk of Covid, but the problem just keeps compounding because the more people who leave the job, the worse the job becomes,” Mr Abbott told ABC Gold Coast.

“People are leaving for three main reasons. There’s the pay issue, where Queensland has been completely left behind the other states.

“There’s the massive safety issue – we’re dealing with at least one assault every single day. Our drivers do not have a secure cabin, there is no genuine security monitoring and it’s very dangerous.

“The third issue is that drivers have very little say in how buses and the rosters are run. They are given such unsociable shifts with poor hours and poor rostering, it’s very hard to get any sort of work/life balance.

“So they end up thinking, why stay in this industry? They can go somewhere else, get a secure job with 9-5 hours and decent money rather than put their lives on the line as a bus driver.”

Passengers wait at a bus stop on the Gold Coast. Picture Glenn Hampson

Mr Abbott says the lack of staff has made the poor working conditions even worse, with drivers now working extra long or double-shifts, unable to book leave and dealing with the upheaval of having their rosters regularly rescheduled.

He says drivers are continually left wounded and traumatised with little action taken to ensure their safety, despite calling for better security measures.

“What we need are secure cabins, that’s what the rest of the world has moved to,” he says.

“To be honest, it feels like TransLink and the (Queensland) government are just throwing spare change at the problem.

“We’ve been trying really hard to get more customer service officers on buses because the assaults and anti-social behaviours are so traumatising. They’ve announced six new network officers in the next few months, but because they work in pairs that’s only three buses covered.

“It’s like throwing a 10-cent coin at a homeless person.”

When it comes to money, Mr Abbott says Surfside owner Kinetic Transport pays its Queensland drivers just $26 per hour, compared to the $35 per hour it pays Victorian drivers.

“It’s the same company, but almost $10 per hours less up here. That’s why people feel undervalued.”

While this problem has been continuing for months, there is not a moment to spare when it comes to finding a solution.

Over on social media, forums for local bus drivers are already discussing industrial action. And they know how to hit where it hurts.

“Wouldn’t it be a mess if buses went on strike during the Olympics?” says one commenter.

With a complete rail network still years away, the fact is that a bus strike on any day would leave us in chaos.

Of course, one could argue that’s just another reason to fight for the light (rail). But I won’t go there.

After all, what we really need right now is to work together – bus and rail, staff and passengers, government and unions.

It’s the only way to stop this transportation catastrophe in its tracks.