Mike Baird | Member for Manly - Northern Beaches Bus Services

Change Font Size: A A A A

Email Alerts

Interviews

Car-Pool Connect

Community Heroes

Photos

Northern Beaches Bus Services

Friday, 29 August 2008

Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [1.22 p.m.]: I refer to a big concern in the community, that is, the proposed reduction in bus services for the entire northern beaches. The member for Pittwater has spoken about this concern in relation to his area, and I will now refer to the Manly side. Today we lodged a submission with Sydney Buses. It appears that the community needs to fight to maintain just the current level of public transport. It is very difficult to understand why public transport services are being cut when commute times have never been longer, when that corridor is known as the slowest corridor in Sydney in the Government's own papers, when traffic is at a standstill, when petrol prices will be higher and obviously when there is environmental awareness. This Government talks about climate change and environmental responsibility yet it is cutting back public transport services.

During the past month my office has been swamped with hundreds of emails, letters, and phone calls expressing commuters' outrage about the cuts. Last week we held a forum and asked the community to express their concerns. Hundreds of angry people attended and could not fit in the room but were overflowing into the hallways to ask for their services to be maintained. In the Seaforth and Balgowlah North areas the main cuts are the discontinuation of the E72 and the E73 and replaced with a single service, E69. I do not know how capacity and frequency can be maintained when two services are made into one. In the 139 bus route, a section that diverts from Oliver Street to the eastern end of Wyadra Avenue and Wyndora Avenue is being removed, which will significantly disadvantage many elderly residents in that area. Hundreds of people have signed a petition about these cuts and many other cuts. Many residents of Department of Housing homes in that area do not have access to a car. I understand the reason for these cuts is so that Sydney Buses can cut kilometres, but that cannot be done at this time.

The E71 and E68 express services will now be all stops, so not only are services being reduced but also some express services will now be all stops. Where is the sense in making public transport more difficult to use, trips longer and less services? It affects residents of Balgowlah and Balgowlah Heights. The clog and bottleneck on Military Road is very well detailed, and cutting these services is a very poor idea and certainly is a disincentive to use public transport. There has been inadequate consultation in relation to this matter. Sydney Buses said it would listen to concerns. Sue Lumb wrote:

I was a little concerned at the comment from STA that "residents of the Bantry Bay/Seaforth area

should not see a reduction in services". This is not a definitive statement. I think commuters along this corridor should be provided with a firm commitment that bus service capacity will not be reduced. Currently, I alight either an E72 or E73 on French's Forest Road. It is fairly typical to wait over 15 minutes during morning peak services to board a bus as many are unable to stop due to being full. It is already intolerable to have to wait over 15 minutes for a bus. This clearly illustrates a need for improved services and not a reduction.

Jane Padman wrote:

I live in Clontarf and work in the city and the E71 is the only bus I can catch to get to and from work. I cannot believe that the State Transit Authority is proposing to change the E71 to an All Stops service. This is really upsetting as the journey to/from the city is slow enough as it is and the number of buses to catch very limited. Adding all the extra stops will substantially increase my travelling time on the bus to approx 1 hour each way. Whoever's idea this is obviously does not catch a bus to work and has no idea about Public transport (or should I say lack of) in this area.

Indeed, recently the Minister for Roads announced a very small amount of money to do a very small number of positive things for that corridor and said he had never been on this corridor in public transport or a car in peak hour, which says a lot. One cannot understand the problems that people face unless one faces them oneself. David Sayer wrote:

To me—it is an amazing irony to be hearing the non-stop criticism of Sydney's transport infrastructure—including our roads system—and then to receive such information which only further adds salt to the wounds of the Sydney public.

You want us to use public transport (and the state of our roads and traffic management would also appear to encourage this) however you then go out of your way to make our public transport less desirable and far less practical—forcing us out on that substandard road system! Again—the irony is that when you should be adding services—you are taking them away. Incredulous logic and just 'dumb' government in action.

They are the concerns of the community. I urge that Sydney Buses withdraws its proposal. It is unacceptable for it to be under pressure to cut kilometres. Sydney Buses told me it would listen to the community. The community has spoken and I ask Sydney Buses to throw out these proposals.

Add to:

Be first to comment on this article

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed.
Name:
E-mail
Subject:
Comment:
Code:*