Category: Transport This Week

Busways have announced that they have been successful in tendering for the Region 7 contract currently held by State Transit. This contract includes services across the North Shore and Northern Suburbs districts operated out of Ryde and Willoughby depots

Busways will take over the Region 7 contract from 12:01am on 9 January 2022. The eight year contract includes 900 employees, 453 buses and two depots. This will see Busways more than double their Sydney operations, taking over the 67 routes and 204 school services in Region 7 which comprise 16.7 million service kilometers and 34 million passenger trips annually.

Busways Managing Director Byron Rowe highlighted the added efficiencies and technological advancements Busways would bring to the contract, including the introduction of electric buses. “By appointing Busways, the NSW government has backed an Australian-owned company to deliver world-class services for customers of the integrated transport network,” Mr Rowe said.

Commitments from Busways to improve the network in the Region 7 contract area include;

• Thirty-five zero emissions buses (ZEBs).
• Substantial depot capital works program to increase depot capacity and electrify the fleet
• CCTV upgrades fleet-wide for improved safety and security
• New 4G two-way radios fleet-wide for better service reliability and customer information
• Cleaning and repair program to lift fleet presentation standards and passenger comfort
• Solar powered smart technology at selected bus stops with real-time service information
• Proactive and preventative maintenance regime backed by our ISO 55001 accredited Asset Management System

In May 2021, the NSW State Government announced that the bus network in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs would be modified from later this year. You can find more details of those changes here. As part of this proposal, Transport for NSW has been conducting community consultation to gauge community sentiment towards these changes. The deadline to complete the community consultation survey has been extended to June 30. We urge you to review the proposed network and have your say before June 30. 

Over 7000 responses have been made to the survey, which Transport for NSW will use to refine the proposed changes before they are implemented later this year. In particular, Transport for NSW has noted that access to St Vincent’s Hospital and Taylor Square from the Eastern Suburbs is a major concern that has been raised in feedback and that they are investigating solutions to improve access to the precinct. A spokesperson stated ““They have let us know off-peak services to Taylor Square are very important.” It was also noted that a large proportion of the feedback related to misunderstandings of the changes. For example, commuters concerned about the removal of popular cross regional routes 353 and 400, despite the fact they are being replaced by the very similar routes 350 and 390X respectively.

Transport NSW Blog believes that there are three main areas that need to be improved from the original plan before the changes are implemented later this year – access to Taylor Square, bus-light rail interchange at Randwick Junction and better delivery of information.

Improved access to Taylor Square should be a key priority when reviewing the proposed network. There need to be two ‘All Day Frequent Routes’ from the South East to Taylor Square and St Vincent’s Hospital, in addition to the ‘All Day Frequent Route’ 333 from Bondi. A frequent route along both the Maroubra/Kingsford corridor and the Coogee/Randwick corridor to Circular Quay via Taylor Square is the best solution that would help to improve access to this precinct. Redirecting Route 374 from Coogee to the City via Taylor Square and improving both Route 374 and Route 396 from Maroubra to the City via Taylor Square to ‘All Day Frequent Routes’ is the best option to ensure proper connectivity. Retaining Route 372 services along Cleveland Street would allow for Route 374 to be redirected via Taylor Square.

The interchange between buses and light rail services at Randwick needs to be improved to ensure the success of the proposed network. Currently, for those changing between buses and light rail travelling inbound, the bus stop is located some 300m away, which does not allow for easy transfers. There needs to be a new inbound stop implemented either on Avoca Street or Belmore Road at High Cross Park in order to ensure easy transfers between services at Randwick. In addition, the level of services between Coogee Beach and the light rail terminus in Randwick under the proposed network is significantly lower than the level of service today, which will further reduce the ease of transfer. Currently, there are 16 buses an hour off peak between Coogee and Randwick, which will be reduced to 8 under the proposed network. Ensuring frequent links to the light rail is important, and improvements such retaining Route 372 between Coogee and Railway Square via Randwick would be useful in achieving this aim.

There needs to be a better delivery of information in relation to the changes when the final network is implemented, to ensure that misinformation does not circulate and commuters in the Eastern Suburbs understand how to use the new bus network. The way that the information regarding the proposed changes has been circulated has allowed for a misinformation campaign and has meant that many people do not fully understand what changes are actually occurring. Using online mapping technology to compare the level of accessibility from any address within 30 minutes has been used overseas to much success, and information campaigns with proper printed booklets and a well set out website with all the information about the changes can help to ensure that people understand the new network.

This is the first set of major changes that Transport for NSW has actually engaged in meaningful community consultation, and it is hoped that the feedback received will actually lead to an improved version of the new network. Please complete the community consultation survey before June 30, and make sure you educate yourself on the full set of proposed changes here.

Transport for NSW has announced that Keolis Downer have been successful in tendering for the Region 8 contract, which includes bus services on the Lower North Shore and Northern Beaches operated out of Brookvale, Mona Vale and North Sydney depots.

Keolis Downer will take over the $900 million contract from 31 October 2021, delivering over 1.2 million services each year. A key point in the contract will see the introduction of 125 electric buses over the next eight years, as older Volvo B10BLE and Volvo B12BLE vehicles are retired from the fleet.

The contract will see new headway technology will be implemented on buses used for the B-Line in order to improve reliability of services. Also as part of the contract on demand services between Mona Vale and Palm Beach will become permanent.

All existing State Transit drivers and maintenance staff will be offered a two year job guarantee with Keolis Downer.

Today, Monday December 21 2020, was the final day of operation for the UNSW express buses which have spent decades shuttling students from Central Station to UNSW and return. The final trip was a Route 898 service from UNSW High Street to Central, departing at 6:59pm and arriving into Central at 7:16pm to end an era.

UNSW express bus services began as early as March 1962, with express short workings of Route 393 and 395 operating between UNSW and Central. From March 2 1964, these services were designated as their own seperate routes, gaining the route numbers 693 and 695. By 1967, the routes had been reorganised so that Route 691 serviced the High Street side of UNSW and Route 695 serviced the Anzac Parade side of UNSW, before being renumbered as the 891 and 895 at some point in the 1990s.

Over the years, a number of different other route variants also serviced UNSW. Route 690 (later 890) operated from Circular Quay to UNSW Anzac Parade via Taylor Square all stops, whilst Route 694 (later 894) operated express from UNSW Anzac Parade to Circular Quay in the PM Peak. Route 659 operated limited stops between UNSW and Bondi Junction, whilst Route 892 operated limited stops between UNSW High Street and Circular Quay.

As a result of construction for the CBD and South East Light Rail project, from 25 October 2015, the UNSW routes were reorganised. AM Peak trips from Central to UNSW High Street retained their 891 route number. PM Peak trips were consolidated to only operate from High Street on Route 893 (lower campus) and Route 898 (upper campus). This was the final set up that operated until the last day of service.

It was the light rail that ultimately became the demise for UNSW express buses. From Tuesday 22 December 2020, UNSW students and staff will have to catch the light rail from Central to UNSW, with stops provided on both High Street (on the L2 Randwick Line) and ANZAC Parade (on the L3 Kingsford Line).

Recently, the NSW Government has grappled with the question of whether or not to make face masks or coverings compulsory on public transport. At this stage they have made the decision not to require masks or coverings, just to strongly recommend it. Despite this, there are loud calls to make them mandatory in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission on public transport.

Transport for NSW has implemented a large suite of measures in an attempt to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading on public transport. (You can read about those here and here.) Despite implementing these measures, one measure that has been commonly enforced both overseas and in other Australian state is the mandatory wearing of face mask on all services. Initially medical advice did not suggest that wearing face masks was an effect measure to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but we now know that wearing a face mask significantly reduces the chance of COVID-19 transmission. In May, former Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said wearing masks on public transport “is not an unreasonable thing to do”. Despite this we have continually seen advice from Transport for NSW that suggested masks were unnecessary.

The evidence is now clear in saying that by wearing a face mask, we can reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. NSW Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have both updated their advice and now recommend healthy people wear a mask in public where there is widespread transmission and/or in places where physical distancing is difficult. This includes on public transport.

Based on this updated advice, Transport for NSW now states that  “Face masks are strongly recommended on public transport” based on the updated advice from NSW Health. They have rolled out a new advertising campaign with a focus on wearing a face mask on public transport, with posters and signage appearing at stations, wharves and on buses this week.

What is notable about this new advice is the key emphasis across all messaging is that this is a ‘recommendation’ rather than a requirement. Anecdotal evidence suggests that less than a third of all passengers on services are wearing a mask, with many passengers also failing to adhere to social distancing requirements. In addition, many customer facing staff are also not wearing masks, despite Transport ‘supposedly’ providing staff with sufficient face masks to wear during their shifts. This makes a mockery of the new recommendations and demonstrates the lack of commitments to mask wearing at Transport for NSW.

It is clear that by not mandating face masks on public transport, the risk of COVID-19 transmission on Transport for NSW services is elevated. Only time will tell if the current stance is the correct one. What do you think? Should face masks be mandatory on public transport?

Transport NSW Blog endorses the use of face masks on public transport based on the prevailing medical advice from NSW Health and the WHO. We would like to advise that this article is not a substitute for medical advice and the author of this article has no medical training.