Old, broken and standing room only: Why commuting on Sydney buses is so hellish

Commuting on Sydney buses has become a daily hell. What with long queues, frequent cancellations and often having to stand. This week the bus broke down – again.

Another day, and another bus journey punctured by a breakdown.

This is the third time in a year that I’ve been on a bus that has broken down, and I don’t even travel into the city every day. Welcome to Sydney in 2025.

I guess I should have been thankful that this week it happened conveniently at a bus stop, rather than previously when the bus decided to give up at a busy junction and we had to weave our way through traffic to get to the footpath.

On that occasion, the bus refused to start; this time the doors decided they no longer wanted to shut.

After five minutes of trying, off we all trundled to join a queue of hundreds in Mosman. And there I was thinking this was my lucky day because I had managed to get a seat. My second bus journey of the morning was standing room only.

‘Operation bum on seat’ has been particularly challenging post-Covid.

Sydney’s bus driver shortage is contributing to transport woes. Picture: Thomas Lisson

In order to improve my odds, I have to time my departure with military precision.

I keep a close eye on the bus app as I am getting ready, and I leave so that I get to the bus stop just as the bus pulls away, meaning I am first for the next bus. Genius, right? That gets me a seat on two out of three journeys.

I should count myself lucky because queues at certain bus stops on the northern beaches have been 700 metres long in recent weeks, with full buses sailing straight past. Is there anything more frustrating?

Apparently the problem is down to 83 buses being removed from service last October due to concerns over cracking in their chassis, so they’re using old stock, which I presume was retired for a reason.

Sydney’s also grappling with a bus driver shortage. So buses are regularly cancelled.

As a result kids are not getting to school and commuters are having to explain to their bosses yet again why they’re running late.

The Department of Transport has promised a new fleet of buses soon.

Of course, there’s the ferry, but you can’t always rely on those either.

This week the Rydlemere to Parramatta ferry was cancelled due to low tide – and the replacement service on offer? According to one news report, it was a fleet of private taxis. That seems an incredibly expensive option, until you realise there probably were no other possibilities, because everything else was probably out of order or unavailable.

Originally published as Old, broken and standing room only: Why commuting on Sydney buses is so hellish