Transport NSW Blog

Transport for NSW has confirmed that more services have been cut from this week due to driver shortages, expanding the impact of the worsening driver shortage to more areas across Sydney.

This controversially includes reductions to the frequency of the B-Line between Mona Vale and Wynyard, which currently suffers from significant overcrowding.

“Temporary Timetables” have been introduced for Keolis Downer services on the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore and U-Go services in the Sutherland Shire and South West. They join Busways in the North West, Transit Systems services in the Inner West and Transdev John Holland services in the Eastern Suburbs in operating a reduced timetable.

The intention behind the temporary timetables are to reduce the level of service to actually reflect the number of drivers available. By doing so, the hope is to reduce the level of ad-hoc cancellation of services across the network. The reduced services are focused at peak travel times when there are other travel options or higher frequencies in general. By doing so, operators can ensure that school services can run and that reasonable frequencies are retained at other times of day, such as late at night.

However, as with the changes made back in January, there are also some areas that will benefit from the changes. Commuters in and around North Avalon will now have access to 190X services to the City in peak, and 199 services late at night with both services extended from Avalon Beach. This will see route services once again using the former E88 terminus at North Avalon which has been without regular passenger service for a number of years.

Back in June, the NSW Government announced a plan to recruit additional bus drivers. At that time, it was estimated that Greater Sydney was short by over 500 bus drivers. Actions recommended by the Bus Industry Taskforce and being implemented by the NSW Government include;

• waiving the $70 application fee for the next 12 months
• allowing drivers over the age of 25 to apply if they hold a current unrestricted Australian driver licence and have held any kind of Australian driver licence, or a nationally recognised overseas driver licence, for at least three years
• enabling electronic issue of documents
• scrapping duplicated paperwork requirements and streamlining the application process.

At this stage, there is no clear resolution to this crisis. These “temporary timetables” have now been in place for nearly 6 months in some cases and this expansion of their use suggests that they will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Since 30 January 2023, there have been changes to service levels for bus services across Sydney due to driver shortages. Despite the media narrative, these driver shortages have not lead to simple cuts to services. Instead, a complex web of changes have occured, which has left some routes with higher levels of service and others facing major cuts.

According to Transport for NSW, it is dealing with “an unprecedented bus driver shortage” and timetables have been reduced “rather than cancelling services ad hoc”.

Last month, a spokesperson for Transport for NSW noted that “We will continue to work with operators and scheduling experts to ensure timetable adjustments are as efficient as possible and are working towards reinstating suspended services as soon as possible.”

In response, Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW spokesman Peter Grech said the comments were “blatantly untrue”. “Since they privatised the buses they’re struggling to attract and retain enough drivers to do the job,” he said.

“As a result hundreds of trips are being cancelled on an ad hoc basis every day. The decision they’ve made to just cut thousands of trips permanently reflects the fact they simply can’t keep up with the quality service commuters deserve.”

These reduced timetables have primarily affected the operating areas covered by the former State Transit, Regions 6, 7 and 9. Services in these areas are now operated by Transit Systems, Busways and Transdev John Holland.

Whilst it is true that many services across these areas have been dropped from timetables, some routes have actually seen an increase in services since the ‘reduced’ timetables were introduced at the end of January.

In the Eastern Suburbs, Routes 313, 339, 350 and 374, connecting the areas around Clovelly and Coogee to Bondi Junction and Central stations, have all received increased levels of service.

In the AM Peak, Route 350 now operates every 5 minutes between Maroubra Junction and Bondi Junction, up from every 10 minutes previously. In the PM Peak, Route 313 now operates every 10 minutes in both directions, up from every 20 minutes previously. Route 339 now operates every 10 minutes in both directions, with inbound trips previously on a 20 minute frequency. Similarly, Route 374 now operates every 10 minutes in both directions, with inbound trips previously on a 20 minute frequency.

Over on the North Shore, Route 120 between North Willoughby and the CBD has received 20 extra trips each week. Meanwhile services on other major corridors, including Routes 115, 288, 292, 500X, 501, 533, 545 and 550 have all been slashed. Similarly in the Inner West, trips on major corridors such as Routes 438X and 440 on Parramatta Road have seen reductions.

Transport for NSW and the private services operators are both attempting to source more drivers to allow services to return to their normal levels. Busways has over 100 driver positions open across its Ryde and Willoughby Depots. Despite this, it is yet to be seen when there will be enough drivers to return to regular timetables.

Earlier this week it was announced that Transit Systems had been successful in gaining the contracts to operate Regions 2 and 15 in South-West Sydney. This follows on from the December announcements that Transit Systems would gain Region 13 alongside its Region 3 and 6 operations, and that new entrant U-Go would be the new operator in Regions 5 and 10 from later this year.

These announcements mark the end of the era of small family owned operators in Sydney. Interline in Region 2, Punchbowl Bus Company in Region 5 and Busabout in Region 15 have all been unsuccessful in retaining their contracts, which will see them exit the Sydney bus market.

Small family operators have been disappearing since the start of this century, both through buyouts from larger multinational companies and through loss of contracts under the current Sydney bus service contracting system, currently referred to as the Greater Sydney Bus Contracts (GSBCs). This new contracting model introduced as a result of the Unsworth review in the early 2000s, made it hard for smaller operators to compete with the larger players.

This leaves Busways as the last incumbent historical operator remaining in Sydney. However, with their successes in gaining former State Transit operating territory as well as major contracts interstate, they cannot be classed as a small family owned operator these days.

As a result of these new contracts, Transit Systems will become the largest bus operator in Metropolitan Sydney. Transit Systems will have more than 1,200 buses in operation carrying more than 50 million passengers a year across a network stretching from Bondi Junction in the East, Wollongong in the south, Kingswood in the West and Macquarie Park in the North.

Industrial Action on Monday 11 April 2022 will impact bus services across NSW. The Transport Workers Union and Rail Bus and Tram Union have advised Transit Systems, CDC NSW and Transdev that their members will be participating in a 24-hour stoppage of work on Monday 11 April from 12.01am.

Services operated by these operators will operate to a severely limited schedule or not at all. Significant disruption to travel patterns is expected and customers are being asked to consider other transport options. Easter show services will still operated through the affected areas, albeit at a reduced frequency.

The areas affected by the Industrial Action include;

• Liverpool, Fairfield, Parramatta (Transit Systems Region 3)
• Hills District (CDC Hillsbus Region 4)
• Inner West, Some Sydney CBD, Olympic Park, Strathfield, Rockdale (Transit Systems Region 6)
• Cronulla, Engadine, Sutherland, Menai (Transdev Region 10)
• Hornsby, Gordon, Berowra (Transdev Region 12)
• Lidcombe, Granville, Bankstown, Liverpool (Transdev 13)
• Newcastle (CDC Hunter)
• Hunter Valley (CDC Hunter)
• Tuggerah and Wyong (Coastal Liner)
• Blue Mountains (Blue Mountains Transit)

Rail services across NSW returned to a full schedule today, Monday 28 February. This comes just a week after the NSW Government spectacularly shut down the entire Sydney Trains network last monday, and also after months of COVID related timetable disruptions.

As of today, Sydney Trains will return to a full weekday timetable. This means that weekday Sydney Trains services will run every 3-4 minutes during peak times in the inner suburbs, with service frequencies of around 10 minutes for the rest of the metropolitan area.  NSW TrainLink Intercity services, NSW TrainLink Regional XPT and Xplorer services are planned to run as timetabled. 

Despite the move to increase services, industrial action by the Rail Tram and Bus Union continues this week. This brings to light the absurdity of the worker shutout conducted by the NSW Government last week. The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) had notified the government of its plans for industrial action on February 9. It was due to run for two weeks from Monday, February 21.

Come February 21, the decision was made by the NSW Government to shutdown the entire Sydney Trains network due to ‘safety concerns’ relating to the industrial action by the RTBU. Train drivers were shutout from their workplaces and the entire city ground to a halt. Initially, the government attempted to place the blame on drivers for a so called ‘snap strike’. It quickly became clear this characterisation was incorrect and that instead of a strike, it was the Government who had shut down the rail network.

Although the Premier and Transport Minister both maintain they were not aware of the impending collapse of the rail network, it is clear that senior bureaucrats were well aware of the shutdown ahead of time. As early as Wednesday February 16, some five days before the shutdown, bureaucrats across Transport and Treasury were aware of the plans. In fact, it was proposed that the shutdown last for the entire two week period of the RTBU’s actions.

That didn’t happen. Just a week later, instead of the network being closed, it is being ramped up. This raises serious questions as to the legitimacy of the safety concerns that led to the network being shutdown. Similarly, serious questions need to be asked why the Premier and Transport Minister were so unaware of major decisions being made on behalf of their government.

Instead of celebrating the return to a full timetable this week, alongside the return of International Travel last week, the Premier and Transport Minister need to look at where things went off the rails.

Services on the L1 Dulwich Hill Line of the Sydney Light Rail network will resume this Saturday 12 February 2022. Services will along the full length of the line between Central and Dulwich Hill, with buses continuing to supplement services on both the L1 and L2 lines.

L1 Dulwich Hill Lines services will run between Central (Grand Concourse) and Dulwich Hill. These services will operate every 15 minutes between 6am and 11pm. Rolling stock from the South East system will be used, as the withdrawn Inner West rolling stock is still not operable.

This service resumption comes more than 100 days after services on the L1 line were suspended in late October due to cracks found in the Inner West rolling stock. Repairs to these trams are ongoing, with the rolling stock expected to return to service later this year.

Due to the reduced frequency on all lines due to COVID related frequency reductions and the shortage of rolling stock for the replacement Inner West service, Light Rail replacement buses will continue to operate during peak periods.

Two routes will operate to supplement light rail services. Transport for NSW will operate a shuttle between Central and The Star, whilst UNSW will operate a shuttle between Central and UNSW High Street. These services will operate on a continuous loop, with services on weekdays between 7am and 9:30am and 3:30pm and 7pm.