Transport Special

Bus solutions still running late
By Ashlee Betteridge
While commuters in Balmain are
merry on the ferry, Leichhardt’s
transport options grind to a halt at
the bus stop. But help could be on
the way if the State Government fol-
lows through on its commitment to
improve bus transport in the area.
The expansion of the Leichhardt
Bus Depot is on track for completion
in 16 months time, weather permit-
ting, Peter Rowley, acting CEO of
State Transit Authority, said.
“The new Leichhardt depot will
be bigger, catering for 200 buses in
the years to come. This will cater for
increased population growth and in-
creased bus patronage across the in-
ner west,” Mr Rowley said.
A trial to run super metro bus-
es earlier this year on a route from
Leichhardt to Kingsford via Sydney
University and the city was delayed.
But this month’s State Budget allo-
cated $3.05 million for the project
and a 12-month trial will begin in
August. The metro buses, which
carry twice as many passengers as a
normal bus, will be prepay only.
The trial metro buses will operate
every 10 minutes in peak periods. An
additional 12 services will run from
Leichhardt in the morning peak pe-
riod and another 12 in the evening
peak, Mr Rowley said.
No details of where the bus-
es would stop in Leichhardt or
Annandale was provided by State
Transit to the Village Voice.
Mr Rowley denied bus services
in Leichhardt had been reduced and
waiting times had blown out.
“With regard to on-time running,
as you will appreciate, there are oc-
casions when services are disrupted
due to such factors as traffic con-
gestion and accidents which State
Transit has no control over,” Mr
Rowley said.
“For the year to date, 74 extra
services have already been added
across Sydney catering to extra de-
mand, four of those servicing the
Leichhardt area,” he said.
Locals give the lowdown on bus services
We asked people waiting for buses on a Wednesday morning on
Marion Street in Leichhardt what needed to be done to improve
bus services.
Ani Lamont
“Things have gotten worse in the last month. Previously in the morning you’d
never have to wait more than five minutes for a bus . . . Now if you miss a bus
it’s 20 minutes till the next one and it’s always packed to the rafters. Opposite
Leichhardt Marketplace it’s crazy. There’ll be two dozen people all trying to get
on... I can’t imagine how long they have to wait for a bus they can step onto let
alone if they were holding out for a bus you could actually sit down on. There’s
not enough services to deal with the numbers and no accurate time table info.”
Sally Ridge
“There should be more limited services at this time of day. Tuesday and
Wednesdays seem to be the worst days. They pretty much come to timetable, but
sometimes they come past full so you have to wait for the next one.”
John Brown
“There is always problems. They should just scrap the bus timetables because
the buses never come according to the timetable. When the traffic is bad, all the
buses just back up and then arrive at once. I try and catch the L38, but when
the traffic is bad it just gets stuck behind the other buses so it’s pretty pointless
being an express.”
Megan Ward
“I think they are really good and we have some of the best public transport in
Sydney. They could do with more buses in the mornings though, there really
needs to be more services during peak hour.”

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Village Voice Balmain June 15