Greens pledge to address bus privatisation as driver shortages continue in inner west

By JUSTIN COOPER

The Greens have committed to their promise to reverse the privatisation of bus services in NSW, as a part of their campaign for the upcoming state election.

On March 5 Balmain Greens MP Jamie Parker affirmed via social media the party’s stance on committing to “Put Inner West buses back into Public hands”.

The post commented towards the Liberal and Labor Parties saying, “We don’t need more committees, it’s time to fix this broken system.”

Greens Candidate for Balmain Kobi Shetty told City Hub that prioritising NSW’s public transport system “is essential for the economy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making it easy, fast and cheap to get around Sydney”.

Shetty criticised privatisation for doing the “opposite of what it promised”, and adding to commuter frustration, cutting services, and marking on overall decrease in the quality of public transport.

Last year Labor promised that privatisation would come under the microscope, and if elected a Labor government would establish a committee to investigate the impacts. However, the Greens maintain that this response would fall short of addressing the issue.

“Anyone who catches buses in the inner west knows that privatisation has failed, and the last thing we need is another committee to investigate this problem.”

Parliament investigates drop in services

In September last year, a NSW Parliamentary inquiry into the privatisation of bus services reported that the “incentive for private companies (is) to sacrifice the needs of more vulnerable people in order to cut costs”. With the industry and commuters frustrated, the inquiry requested Government consideration of a “publicly-owned-and-operated” service.

Shetty noted the findings and recommendation of the inquiry upon the state government to “put public services back into public hands”, is a part of the Greens campaign commitment.

The Greens Party are slated to reverse privatisation to Bus Services around the North Shore, North West, Eastern Suburbs, and Inner West if elected.

LNP rejects reversal

The Liberal Government has rejected inquiry recommendations to place bus services back in the public sector, opting instead to promise new incentives for bus driver recruitment.

In a statement made by the Liberal Candidate for Coogee, Dr Kylie Von Muester, the LNP has promised a 4-point plan.

“Benefits for drivers, reducing course fees, new recruitment initiatives and community feedback”, the plan focuses on addressing a shortage of bus drivers. Specifically, the LNP has pledged to provide free travel to and from work for bus drivers across the Sydney Region, waive driver training and authority fees, and recruiting additional drivers from overseas.

When asked about the Liberal Government’s 4-point strategy, Shetty labeled the Liberal’s plans as “inadequate”, as “it doesn’t go to the heart of the problem”.

She adding that “fiddling around the edges of a driver recruitment strategy isn’t going to make the buses run on time.”

Calls for the revision of privatisation have been heard amongst Sydney in the past year. In 2019 Waverley Mayor Paula Masselos said that “commuters are worse off under privatisation”.

In early 2021, 25 popular routes in the eastern suburbs were removed.

Last year’s cuts have impacted commuters significantly with many routes cancelled, leaving commuters with limited options. In late January this year, the NSW government warned inner-west commuters that buses are operating ‘at reduced service levels’ due to sustained driver shortages.

Many bus contracts finish within the late half of the decade, which unless resolved soon may continue to keep commuters and bus operators frustrated.