Community revolt: bus petitions hit State Parliament

By Matt Khoury

Citysiders have spoken: buses are infrequent, unreliable and under-resourced. The Minister for Transport, John Watkins, is sure to hear the call. Every day parliament sits during the autumn months, a petition will be tabled in parliament.
The Lord Mayor and Member for Sydney, Clover Moore, goes to Macquarie St every Tuesday to Thursday, armed with signatures to present the minister. A spokesperson for Ms Moore said as only the first page of a petition makes it to his office, pages will be tabled one by one, day after day.
26 pages of 26 signatures have begun appearing on the minister’s desk.
Leading the transport lobby is Elizabeth Elenius, of Pyrmont Action, who passed the petition onto Ms Moore. Ms Elanius acts on behalf of over 500 residents on the peninsula who claim although the population has quadrupled in recent times, bus services have been reduced.
Ms Moore said, ‘Residents tell me that the 501 bus from Ryde is full before it gets to the inner city, and unreliable. They say that the 443 bus is irregular, leaving passengers with long waits or long walks.
‘The new 448 pre-pay express service from the QVB to Star City in the mornings and from Star City to the QVB in the evenings, does not stop in the area or carry return passengers so its of no help to local residents. Residents watch empty buses go by,’ she said.
This is the tip of the iceberg: residents in Woolloomooloo, Kings Cross (Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay), Darlinghurst, East Sydney, Surry Hills, Redfern, Millers Point, Paddington, Edgecliff and Woollahra have also been represented by petitions.
Ms Moore has prepared a ‘how to complain about late buses’ information kit for her constituents, and says she will consider all petitions presented to her for tabling to the Minister for Transport.
Town Planner and Clover Moore Independent Team (CMIT) Cr John McInerney said, ‘The State Government understand the problems, they just don’t have the resources to fix it.’
A spokesperson for John Watkins, however, denied the problem. ‘They are asking for something they already have,’ the spokesperson said, adding that peak-hour buses ran every seven minutes along Harris St.
State Transit’s Acting CEO, Peter Rowley, said, ‘We constantly monitor our services to ensure that they match demand, and we will continue to do this in Pyrmont. Customer feedback via the 131500 infoline and website, as well as representations from the community are also taken into account when designing services.’
Public transport in the city is hindering quality of life for many. Some are catching taxis- also infrequent- to keep appointments. It has led many to propose alternative transport schemes, including the use of shared mini-buses and mini-cabs.
Chris Stapleton, of the 10 000 Friends of Sydney, has devised a re-worked plan for the city’s bus network, which he claims reduces the number of buses by 50 per cent, but increases frequency and usage by linking routes.
As the community revolts and the relationship between City of Sydney and the Ministry of Transport worsens, radical change seems imminent.