By Angus Dalton
Voters on the northern beaches contending with cancelled buses, long queues and stranded schoolchildren are preparing to take their frustration to the polls as a crippled bus service helps the region branded the “insular peninsula” live up to its name.
Over the past six months, 11 per cent of planned buses bound for the city from the northern beaches never made it onto the road during the morning rush.
Sophia Masur says she hasn’t made it to her city job on time for months as her buses are constantly cancelled.Credit: Kate Geraghty
“It’s outrageous. I haven’t been on time to work in months,” Sophia Masur, who works in the city, said on a day when five out of eight city express services from Manly were cancelled within an hour.
“Interest rates are going up, cost of living’s going up, you just want to get to work so you can literally feed your family.”
On Monday, five out of eight express buses scheduled to the city from Manly within one hour never materialised.Credit: Sophia Masur
Masur, who said upset children trying to get to school are frequently among the stranded passengers, hasn’t decided who she’ll back at the state election on March 25 but Manly MP and Environment Minister James Griffin has lost her vote as a result of the chaos.
“I’ve been a Liberal voter, but I definitely won’t be voting Liberal this time,” said Masur. “It’s really pissed me off.”
A resident in Dee Why has taken to reporting bus cancellations daily in the suburb’s community Facebook group alongside weather updates; last week she reported that 60 buses to the city and 29 buses bound to Manly from Dee Why were cancelled. The Rail, Tram, and Bus Union said the Brookvale bus depot was dropping between 160 and 200 trips a day.
Keolis Downer, the company that took over the operation of buses on the northern beaches from the State Transit Authority in 2021, said a shortage of 82 drivers was behind the chronic cancellations and delays.
An urgent recruitment drive includes a $2000 incentive for new drivers who join and stay with the company for 12 months, but Keolis Downer is competing for employees amid a 10 per cent national shortage of bus drivers.
Independent teal challenger to Griffin Joeline Hackman wrote to outgoing Transport Minister David Elliott last month, and again on Tuesday, demanding the details of service contracts with Keolis Downer.
“You can’t just sell off a public service and hope that the company is going to deliver for the public,” Hackman said. “It needs to be with really strict oversight about those deliveries. Otherwise, you have this sort of hub-and-spoke system where it’s not working for people that are not on a profitable route.”
Elliott’s office said the minister had written back to Hackman.
Griffin backed the government’s view that private bus operators deliver better outcomes for passengers but said he shared commuters’ frustration.
“There will be a focus on increasing the number of drivers by securing proficient drivers from overseas, waiving training fees, offering bus drivers in Greater Sydney subsidised travel and giving local communities the opportunity to have input into bus services,” Griffin said.
Manly candidates’ transport policies
Liberal MP James Griffin backs privatisation and has promised to recruit bus drivers from overseas and subsidise driver training fees. He intends to establish an Uber-style on-demand bus service in Manly.
Teal independent Joeline Hackman supports returning bus operation to the now-dissolved State Transit Authority and wants to improve bus driver working conditions and pay, and re-establish cancelled bus routes.
Greens candidate Terry le Roux opposes privatisation and wants to upgrade B-Line connections from Dee Why and Mona Vale to metro stations on the north shore.
Labor candidate Jasper Thatcher wants to bring back the larger Freshwater class ferries and supports Labor’s bus industry taskforce, which would assess the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into privatisation of bus services.
Balgowlah resident Stephen McNulty described getting a bus to the city as a “lottery” and said the failing public transport system forced commuters into driving.
“The government needs to look at the privatisation and make a decision as to whether it’s giving citizens the service they need,” McNulty said. “Public transport is a fundamental. Clogging up the roads with more people getting into a car because they can’t trust the bus is a horrible answer to this problem.”
The Amazing Race: Manly edition
Reporters Millie Muroi, Angus Thomson and Angus Dalton decided to check out the public transport situation in Manly with an Amazing Race-style experiment. They went head-to-head in a time trial from Manly to Wynyard using three different transport options. Here are their findings.
Ferry: Millie Muroi
7.50am: The best way to beat congestion is to fly over it. But conditions on the water aren’t choppy enough to send the little Emerald-class ferries flying, and in the absence of Uber helicopters, my journey will be mostly seaborne. A brisk walk from Manly Corso lands me at the wharf where the Fast Ferry commuters whisk their way past me. A 16-minute wait later – precious time in the Amazing Race – I join the horde of passengers clambering onto the green and yellow ferry.
8.20am: The seats fill up rapidly, but snagging one on the side, I experience what I imagine is the same feeling a dog has when sticking its head out of a moving car, as the engines revved and the wind rushed past me. Scenic cliffs, seagulls and a clear blue sky takes the edge off our race for a while.
Commuters wait for ferries at the Manly Wharf.Credit: Kate Geraghty
8.43am: A healthy dose of vitamin D later, the Opera House drifts into view and my feet touch the wharf at Circular Quay.
8.49am: A swift walk and four-minute train commute carries me triumphantly into Wynyard Station, with a final arrival time of 8.54am. No sign of the others: victory!
Bus: Angus Thomson
7:50am: I leave Manly Corso at a canter. I’m in this to win. A short walk to Manly Tennis Club bus stop (across the road from the office of teal candidate Joeline Hackman).
8:00am: I board the 142 bus to Allambie Heights. There’s a dozen or so on board. Fortunately, none are fellow backseat bandits, and I claim the back row.
Manly residents waiting for the bus. At least 11 per cent of peak hour morning services have been cancelled in the last six months.Credit: Kate Geraghty
8.13am: I disembark at Manly Vale and instantly know I’m in trouble. Possibly more than a hundred bored commuters make up a line almost 100 metres long. As I draw closer I see teal shirts weaving in and out of the crowd – Hackman and her merry crew of volunteers are out on the hustings. “We’re going to fix the buses!” the teal candidate for Manly announces. “This is what privatisation gets you.” I join the line. Five minutes pass, then 10. The line is moving – not quickly, but it’s not stagnant. Hackman approaches the man in a Taronga Zoo uniform standing behind me: “Thank you for your services, how long have you worked at the zoo?”
8.24am: Taronga man and I finally board the 177X to Wynyard. I lost 10 minutes at Manly Vale, but I’m back in with a shout here. Taronga man gets off at Spencer Street and wishes me good luck for the rest of the race. I fear the odds aren’t in my favour.
8.55am: Arrive at Wynyard station bruised, but not beaten (I even managed to nab a seat as we crossed over the Harbour Bridge). Unfortunately, Millie has pipped me by a minute. Still, no sign of Angus on four wheels.
9.05am: Angus finally pulls up and rescues us from peak hour Pitt Street. The city is no place for a Corolla at this time of day.
Car: Angus Dalton
7:50am: I hop in my trusty Toyota Corolla. My route on Google Maps is dominated by red and orange strips, indicating slow traffic, but the first leg is pretty cruisy as I zip past commuters standing at bus stops. So long, suckers!
8:02am: I hit the red. It’s a 13-minute swamp of congestion. What time does the Spit Bridge go up again?
8:23am: I’m crawling along Manly Road. Some buses sail past. I’m bracing for a smug glance from Thomson aimed at me from the bus lane. After inching across the Spit I hit another bout of 14-minute congestion. I wonder how many of my convoy companions are dreaming of a Beaches Link.
Peak hour traffic along Military Road in Mosman.Credit: Brook Mitchell
8:35am: Bless the Google AI gods; they’ve generated a back-streets shortcut that will allegedly shave 29 minutes off my trip. I gleefully zigzag through the streets until I realise I’ve been sold a lemon; there’s a “No Left Turn” sign to get back onto Military Road. A hasty retreat.
8:50am: If I had a 9am job interview I’d be weeping. My speedometer has barely jumped above 20km/h. But I can see the city!
9:05am: I hate losing. But I pull over at Wynyard and my fate is sealed. If anything, our race has proven the efficiency and value of public transport, when it works. After covering 14 kilometres in an hour and 15 minutes, I can see why a number of northern beaches public transport devotees have lamented being forced back to their cars.
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