This month our featured bus route is State Transit Route 324. Route 324 operates between Watsons Bay and City Walsh Bay via Rose Bay, Edgecliff, Kings Cross and City Town Hall.
The original route 324 ran between City, Macquarie Street to Watsons Bay, running express between the City and Rose Bay began on 23 January 1950 after the closure the tram line between Rose Bay and Watsons Bay closed late in December 1949. Just five months later due to large protests, Route 324 was axed and the tram returned to service.
The service was reintroduced after the second closure of the tram line to Watsons Bay on 10 July 1960. It ran between Watsons Bay and Erskine Street Wharf. From 1966 the route began terminating at Circular Quay instead of Erskine Street. From 1979, the route was diverted to use the new Edgecliff Interchange and short runnings between Watsons Bay and Double Bay were extended to Edgecliff and renumbered 323. From 4 October 2015, the 324 was modified to operate to Walsh Bay instead of to Circular Quay as part of changes to the CBD bus network related to light rail construction.,
The route currently operates every 30 minutes through most of the day. During peak hour, services run the full length of the route every 20 minutes, alternating with a short running between Watsons Bay and Edgecliff Station also running every 20 minutes. This provides an overall frequency of 10 minutes between Watsons Bay and Edgecliff and encourages interchange to rail services.
Route 324 is serviced by State Transit’s Waverley depot. It is operated using 12.5m CB60 and Citaro bodied Mercedes Benz CNG buses.
Transport NSW Blog 