Subject to refinement

Refined Liberal lady from the North Shore

On 12 December 2013, almost one year to the day from the release of the brochure Sydney's Light Rail Future, Transport for NSW released a brochure Sydney's Bus Future. The format was almost identical to the earlier brochure, and to the 9/11 2013 brochure, and the similarities did not end there. There were the same infantile argumentation, the same maps with multi-coloured lines drawn across them, the same total lack of disclosure of plans and the same lack of consultation with bus passengers and local councils and community organisations prior to the announcements. There is obviously an entrenched group within TfNSW that churns out these brochures in isolation from the real world.

The basic plan of TfNSW is to eliminate bus stops on major routes - bus stops will be 800 metres to 1 kilometre apart instead of an average 400 metres apart. The Oyster (aka Opal) Card allows people to mount and dismount buses from  all the doors so there will be little advantage from this in vehicle run times and it will not ameliorate the time needed for passengers to walk to the stops.

Maroubra CBD bus services

The motivation is of course to destroy the advantage public buses have over privately-operated trams. This is demonstrated in this figure from the 12 December 2013 brochure that details the fate of the bus service from Maroubra Junction to the northern CBD. Bus stops that do not coincide with tram stops are eliminated as a precursor to what will befall commuters when the bus services are forcibly terminated.

But how will the buses be terminated? The "Future" figure shows the purple bus route abruptly stopping at the Kingsford bus/tram interchange, but it is physically impossible for buses to turn around here. They must carry on empty along Anzac Parade until they reach, typically, a triangle of roads that TfNSW considers to be suitable for a bus terminus.

The only such terminus shown in the EIS was the Rawson Place terminus. These triangulated terminuses do not have any provision for lay over of buses and it will not be possible for bus services to maintain scheduled services.The tech guys at the "information sessions" held by TfNSW refused to discuss these matters saying the relocation of bus services as a result of the tramway was considered to be separate from the EIS and were "subject to refinement".

Commuters using public bus services in Western Sydney and south of the Harbour will be "subject to refinement" by a north shore political rump, and will not have any say in what is being done to their services - until the next State election. This must be held on 28th March 2015. The four independents, including Clover Moore when she was still compos mentis, forced the Greiner government to agree to fixed term elections.

The big question is will the EIS for CESLR be approved without any disclosure of where bus services will be terminated? And how much will have been disclosed before the next State election?