Northern Beaches bus changes a $500m headache

Bus drivers are raising questions about the NSW Government’s claim that the introduction of the new B-Line buses on Sydney’s Northern Beaches will save commuters time on their daily journey.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed today that the government’s Transport NSW official B-line forum has declared journey times are expected to be cut by “10 per cent”. With the existing journey time from Newport to Wynyard taking one hour, the cut equals just six minutes.

Rail, Tram, Bus Union (RTBU) Tram and Bus Divisional Secretary, Chris Preston, said the decision to change the buses on the northern beaches route is shrouded in confusion.

“The Transport Minister might claim there will be time savings, but drivers have serious doubts that will be the case,” Mr Preston said.

“We know that these double-decker buses take longer to load and off-load than the current bendy buses. That’s going to add significant time to each journey, and possibly negate any travel time improvements.

“This appears to be just the latest in the NSW Government’s ever-increasing list of incompetent transport decisions.

“This move will also cause serious headaches for local residents and commuters, with suggestions that public places like surf club car parks are going to be used to turn these buses around.

“The Transport Minister is spending a lot of money on this service, and we can’t see that it’s going to deliver much, if any, benefit at all.”