End of line for Bronte bus

End of line for Bronte bus
Image: NSW Transport axed the 378 beach-to-city direct bus service, leaving Bronte residents with the indirect 379. Photo: Paula Masselos

BY MICK DALEY

Bronte residents are fuming over a NSW Transport Department decision to axe their direct 378 beach-to-city bus service last year.

A Change.org petition begun by Bronte resident Gaby Naher, a literary agent who commutes daily to the city, has garnered over 550 signatures. It objects strenuously to the cancellation of the service, which leaves commuters with longer journeys fraught with dangerous interchanges.
The petition reads in part;
“Our children will no longer have a single bus trip to their schools in the inner city, our infirm will no longer have a single trip to St Vincent’s Hospital, our elderly will no longer have a single trip for shopping in the city and the convenience of being able to ride a single bus to work will for many of us be replaced by a lot of dead time at the Interchange.
“We call on our Local member, Bruce Notley-Smith, to reinstate Bronte’s own bus, the 378.”
Gaby Naher says that letters to the Department have been dismissive of her objections and those to local member Bruce Notley-Smith have been ignored. She said the decision has provoked anger and frustration from Bronte residents who foresee great difficulties and even tragedy in the wind.
“At the beginning of November my somewhat older neighbor spoke to me in some distress after hearing about changes to the bus service,” Naher told the City Hub. “I got on to the Transport NSW website and read about the changes and immediately called Notley-Smith’s office to say ‘it’s unacceptable to lose that public transport that has been operating since 1910’.
“The only reply I got was confirmation of the cancellation. I decided to start a Change.org petition in frustration because I thought if we didn’t act quickly changes would be made and there’d be no public outcry or discussion about it.”
Fellow Bronte resident Judy Ebner says the changes are ‘ridiculous’ and make her regular journeys dangerous.
“Since the buses have changed we have to catch the 379 bus, then to get the 440 to Broadway you have to change at Bondi Junction. However it’s not easy. You have to walk to the bus stop near the corner of Oxford St and Newland St. It’s a very dangerous crossing for the elderly or someone a bit slow going across. It’s a steep little hill up Newland Street to the lights at the intersection of Oxford St and of course cars are picking up speed, so the traffic is very fast and there’s going to be an accident one day there. I’ve seen some very close shaves.
“There’s also a lot of confusion on the part of tourists with the naming of 379. You see them get off on the corner of Bronte Rd and Birrell St and they think they’re somewhere near Bronte Beach, because it has the same number as the bus to North Bondi.
“It’s just crazy. Who has worked this out? Someone who’s sitting at a computer who doesn’t catch buses. To have two buses with two completely different destinations called the 379 is more than ridiculous.”
In response a spokesperson for Transport NSW said that last year it had altered some routes to ‘better reflect customer travel patterns and help improve the reliability of local services, including services to Bronte”.
Waverly Council estimates that there are between 75,000-80,000 people living in the 379 bus catchment area. It did not have a figure for how many people ride the buses, but Labor Councillor Paula Massella says she made this issue part of her election platform.
“I’m calling a meeting in the next couple of weeks of interested people who might want to join me in setting up a group to look at how we can bring back the 378,” she told the City Hub.
“Generally people are finding this new 379 service very unsatisfactory. There was huge demand for the 378 and it was extremely well used, as was the 440 when it went between Bondi and Bronte.”
Councillor Masella observed that the 440 service has been privatized and this could be seen as a worrying sign of the State government’s agenda to privatize other public transport services.
“If you have a look at the evidence you couldn’t be blamed if that’s what you thought. The 440 is part of Region 6 now and that’s part of the inner west Sydney privatization service. Also for example Transdev has been given $20million to run eleven trials, including one in the eastern suburbs for an on demand bus service, but there are issues with that because you can’t take prams on them.
“Why should people have to be pushed onto a private bus service and more to the point, why should people have to have twenty minutes added to their commute and be offered a service that’s inferior to what they had before?”
The Department of Transport spokesperson told City Hub that “the high frequency of bus services on Oxford Street, including routes 380, 333, 440, M40 and 352, ensures that transfer times at Bondi Junction are minimised. The decision by the NSW Government to put the contract to operate Region 6 bus services in Sydney’s Inner West out to competitive tender is not related to the delivery of services in any other areas.”
MP Bruce Notley-Smith told the City Hub;
“It is still early days for the new service, and I will continue to monitor its level of acceptance and reliability, and to alert the Minister for Transport to my constituents’ concerns.”
The Westconnex Direct Action group are organizing a public rally
to save NSW public transport. Interested parties can contact them on
0490 257 225.

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