Letter

Stop the blame game on the 311
The Government’s Spokesperson quoted in second last paragraph of your story on the 311 bus (‘Council rejects STA bid to cut parking’ 27/8/2009) needs to get their facts straight and stop blaming Council when it was their decision to buy buses which cannot run without extensive road changes, not just the removal of the parking spaces in Billyard Avenue.
Ms Moore met with a delegation from the 2011 Residents Association in June this year and provided them in the briefing with a summary of a letter received from Sydney Buses.
The letter (dated 13/2/09) outlined Sydney Buses’ assessment of using the new longer 12.5 metre buses to service the 311 bus route via the Ithaca Road/Billyard Ave/Onslow Avenue “loop”.
It states that Sydney Buses decided not to service the “loop” because:
•    The narrow winding roadway is inadequate to be used by 12.5 metre-long buses unless approximately 35 on-street parking spaces were removed.
•    The road grade change at the intersection of Onslow Avenue and Billyard Avenue may be too excessive to be used by 12.5 metre low-floor accessible buses.  Note: Sydney Buses did not undertake a field assessment to verify this.
•    Even if the City agreed to remove the extensive lengths of on-street parking, the parking demand and likelihood of illegal parking would restrict access for 12.5 metre buses.
•    The roundabout at the intersection of Onslow Avenue and Elizabeth Bay Road would need to be reconstructed to allow 12.5 metre buses to turn right.
•    Ithaca Road would need to be made one-way northbound because 12.5 metre buses need the full road width to negotiate the mid-block curve south of Billyard Avenue.
The letter includes a map of the extensive removal of parking (about 35 spaces) and other changes which are needed to allow the 12.5 metre buses to operate.
The letter also outlined problems for the 12.5 metre buses turning at Cathedral/Crown Streets and Cathedral/Bourke Streets, which require the RTA to approve changes at the traffic lights.
It’s time the Minister stepped in to stop the blame game and get some sensible action on this issue. To imply that the 311 is now running on time because a two minute loop has been cut from the route is absurd! As is the STA spokeperson’s statement that it would months to change the timetables. Give us a break!
All that has to happen is to put the Billyard Avenue loop back on the run with the current Bus. If the bus is two minutes later at Central, surely that is less important than giving back a bus service to the less mobile and elderly residents of Elizabeth Bay who have had their access to public transport removed by the cutting of the loop.
Judith Parker, 2011 Residents Association