Media release: Service cuts and no new jobs: the reality of Constance’s Bondi bus announcement

Commuters from some of Sydney’s eastern suburbs will have their direct city services cut and face longer waits for services into the city under the Transport Minister’s new ‘Bondi bus’ plans.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) Bus Division Secretary, Chris Preston said the recent announcement of increased bendy bus 333 services to and from Bondi Beach failed to mention the myriad of services that are being cut or altered in order to provide for the changes to the 333 services.

“The Transport Minister is trying to make it sound like he’s improving services in the region nine area, but the reality is he’s robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Mr Preston said.

“This is a classic case of smoke and mirrors, and unfortunately what we’ve come to expect from the Transport Minister. The Transport Minister likes to fudge the figures and make out that he’s increasing services, when in actual fact he’s making life more difficult for many commuters.

“For example, under this new plan, someone travelling on the 380 from Watson’s Bay into the city each day will now have to change buses at Bondi Junction and some Tamarama residents will have their local service cut entirely.

“The Transport Minister also blatantly lied when he said the changes would result in 100 new bus driver jobs. Not one new job will be created as a result of this.

“We saw the Minister do exactly the same thing in Newcastle. He walked in and claimed that he was introducing 1200 new services in the region, but when the timetable come into effect commuters discovered their services had actually been cut. 20,000 commuters signed a petition complaining about the Newcastle timetable changes, and we’re no doubt seeing the same thing happen in Sydney’s region nine.

“Of course we all welcome increased and improved services for commuters, but not at the expense of existing services.

“NSW commuters deserve improved public transport services and they also deserve to be properly consulted on changes to their current services, not have inferior changes forced upon them by a Transport Minister more worried about PR spin than on delivering a quality transport service.”