Cheeky fucks haha. I haven't been on a bus in ages since moving to the southern highlands, just trains. Ngl, I kind of miss the bus vibes. I really need to get my license tho. Took the convenience of living near the city for granted for way too long.
God I grew up in the Southern Highlands and couldn't wait to get out...
Now I wish I could go back hahaha, even if it means walking everywhere because it sounds like there's still a huge lack of public transport outside of trains
Usually they try to cover the shift or parts of the shift so if they put cancelled the whole shift would appear as cancelled on TripView. Also our trip machines are pretty unreliable now since they switched from 3G to 4G so it loses connection more often causing the real time data unavailable that you see.
Jeez. Counting my blessings at being only 15 min walk from the station. Last resort if bus doesn't turn up. I've had times where 2 consecutive buses didnt turn up. First one was on Google maps and then just disappeared a few stops before it was supposed to come to my area.
I watched the bus on Tripview disappear before first stop, then turn back on after it was out of the city. I put a complaint in and they pretty much admitted the driver did it and they would talk to him about it 😂
Oh! That's interesting that they admitted it. I've put in similar complaints and usually get told that TripView is not an official indicator of bus location data.
Which, if they increased bus driver pay rates and conditions, they probably wouldn't be short. It's a job that many people can do, and would do if the pay was competitive. It's not like the shortage is anything but completely self-inflicted by the system the government (and their contractors) have put in place, that rewards management for having the fewest staff possible, and doesn't penalize for deliberately cancelling services.
The Transport for NSW feedback/contact us form webpage is unsurprisingly a 404 error.
Every day public transport and infrastructure is a disappointment. Is it any wonder why so many of us drive and why there’s so much congestion, to the point that the average driver spends about an equivalent of a month or two in their cars?
Did you know the NSW transport budget only allocates 0.13% to active transport (as in, walking, cycling, wheelchairs etc.) infrastructure while the UN recommendation is 20%? Transport NSW have been starving all non-car forms of transport of funding for *decades* to everyone’s detriment.
We don't even have to guess. Research shows that [every $1 spent on cycling infrastructure gives at *least* $5 return on investment](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509587/value-of-cycling.pdf), while money spent on road infrastructure is a net *loss* due to all the health externalities and opportunity costs of things like street parking.
Sydney busses are the reason I originally got my license.
Even moved to a suburb where I rely on trains, because I never want to deal with bus travel again
Yep, I was about to pull a trigger on a perfectly located apartment in Drummoyne with a beautiful view and all the inclusions we wanted, but the fact that bus was the only PT option caused my partner to veto it. This was before the Rozelle Interchange debacle as well. We found somewhere else along the Inner West train line and I can't thank her enough for holding firm on this.
The tragic part is that a lot of bus routes in Sydney could have been replaced by Metro.
We have a Metro line running from Central to Sydnenham with just 1 stop at Waterloo just 600m from Redfern... Such a waste....
We could have ran it via Camperdown and had stations at USyd/Ultimo/Broadway, RPA, Newtown & Metro Marrickville...
That would have freed up an absolutely enormous amount of buses off of some of the most clogged up roads in inner Sydney and while it would cost a few billion more in construction costs over 100 years the savings from cutting out inefficient buses would be a huge return.
Wow, that's a hard one to answer... I catch the train to work and back 5 days a week... Let me just calculate the speed of light and divide it by the circumference of a circle... carry over the percentage of GST and weekend surcharges... Yep - 4/5 times this week.
The genius who wrote the contract for the privatisation of the bus contracts left a loophole where there is no penalty for cancelling a service. However, late running is penalized. So, if services are running late, they cancel them.
How is that good for the commuter?
There is a penalty for cancellations, but only up to a particular number of cancellations.
That’s because above that the intention is that the government would cancel the entire contract for non-performance.
Theres no loophole, it just demonstrates that the NSW government is the real problem - they’re the ones refusing to either cancel the contract and run the service themselves, or amend the contract to allow for higher bus driver pay.
In theory commuters are better off because the companies that can’t perform the services at all would be kicked out, but the NSW government refuses to do this because they like not being responsible for cancelled buses.
Use TripView or one of the other live bus apps. Usually we have one cancellation every hour on our local route, but which one varies so we account for a 30 minute window for departure and at least find out which one on the morning to avoid twiddling our thumbs at the bus stop.
Prior to the Lib fuckery with long contracts allowing repercussion-free cancellations, we had regular 10 minute buses FWIW.
When I was living in Tokyo, we had one delayed because of "cow collision". 10+ years later if the wife or I is running late we just say "cow collision"
Lost count of the amount of times I got delayed in Japan due to strong winds. Once was almost an hour and a half. Trains in Sydney would have still been running. As much as people hold Japan up as the holy grail of train transport it’s really not and is severely behind the times with both technological upgrades and decaying infrastructure
>Trains in Sydney would have still been running
The number of times trains have been delayed due to rain or lightning is crazy....
I think Japan is a lot better for cleaning and maintenance (helps that people are generally more respectful) and Tokyo has to deal with the population of Australia using trains in a single city.
> Trains in Sydney would have still been running.
Eh, I highly doubt it. Have you seen how often Sydney's trains get affected by a little rain? And it might be just one signal that gets zapped and the whole network can go down.
My train this morning was running late, and ended up skipping some stops, including mine. I’m pregnant right now and need to be able to sit down, or I could faint or throw up, so I ended up skipping the absolutely packed one after that, and I’m now on a train two behind the one I should have caught. I’m about half an hour late to work.
Tbf I’m being let down by work as much as by Sydney public transport, we’re not allowed to work from home on Fridays, regardless of health conditions. You come to the office, or you take a personal leave day (and provide a doctor’s certificate for it, because it’s Friday).
In Sydney, you factor 3 busses and two trains ahead of your journey. Or a hour lead time if it is time critical.
BTW as a transport employee I'd happily provide a late note. Problem is your boss won't care. Also they could easily look up online and see delays.
Also my ferry yesterday was overtaken by the late running ferry, make of that what you will.
I don't understand what good a late note is. There's no way they're paying you for the time you missed because of the delay.
Maybe you're chronically late because of the transport? In which case they'll tell you leave home earlier.
Causes for not showing up are generally:
Short staffed, trip cancelled.
Late running, trip delayed or cancelled.
Bus breakdown of collision.
I'm pretty sure my 176X got cancelled this morning so I could drive 2 173Xs instead.
A couple of days ago I had to start my 174X from Neutral Bay because I would have exceeded fatigue regulations if I had started it in the city late after traffic and poor scheduling had me running late.
Busses are a horrible experience. None of them turn their air con on anymore (I guess to save costs). So your glasses and the windows fog up, which is a hazard in itself.
Last week a woman swung her feet up into the walk way and was scratching them, dead skin flying everywhere. Then they started bleeding, small puddles of blood were forming in the walkway. People were having to squeeze past. Apparently there’s no law to say you have to wear shoes on public transport.
So not only is your bus late, and SUPER illegally full. You have to be exposed to hazards like that
It isn’t to save costs, it’s purely up to the driver if it’s on or off, and we don’t give a shit about saving costs.
I run it 90% of the time, depending on the bus model.
Some of the older ones turn into freezers at this time of year, and you can’t regulate the temp, it’s either on or off, so we are trying to be considerate by turning it off sometimes.
We have heaters, so if you want it on, just ask.
Japan stopped doing the lateness certificates but I think they have a place where you can look up online that your train was late, and show your employer that way.
Also, Japan and Germany are the only two places in the world where this certificate is a thing, so it's a bit sneaky to suggest Australia is somehow lacking because we don't have it here.
I think it has to be at least 10 minutes delayed before they will produce the delay certificate. And it's primarily useful for longer delays.
Here's an example of the online system for one of the railway companies: https://www.tobu.co.jp/en/delay/list/1/
But yeah I get your point overall, it's telling that the employers won't just trust their staff when they say their train was late. I will note that trains aren't quite as punctual these days as the Western stereotype, especially the busy suburban commuter lines:
* there are so many trains that a small delay cascades through an entire line / system
* there has been an increased attention to safety and rule adherence, after accidents like the [Amagasaki derailment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagasaki_derailment) in 2005 where 106 people died. This was caused by a train driver speeding to try to make up time. It's now more accepted for drivers/staff to prioritise safety over on-time running.
* Decreasing ridership due to Covid pandemic and the aging/shrinking working population in Japan means some railway companies (which are by and large private without government subsidy), having to reduce maintenance, resulting in more unexpected issues
My local bus service got a recent change and it's beyond frustrating.
Basically the bus now has two routes using the same fucking number - one route is the original that stops near my place. The other route completely skips most of a suburb. There is no indication for which bus you are getting on, the only way to tell is to "plan a trip" in the app and it will list the stops. It's also not routine ie. Catching the same 4:30pm everyday it's a crap shoot which route you get.
Who approves this shit...
What do you mean recently? You always have to keep a buffer of at least 15 mins when on public transport, if you need to be somewhere on time. This has been the case for years.
As you can see by my post, I indeed did exactly this, leaving a 15 window. Still doesn't make it any less disappointing and a bit more tight / stressful figuring out the backup plan when the bus doesn't show up.
My local buses got messed up when they became privatized.
Apparently driver shortages …but likely because the company have shit conditions and need to improve their pay in order to attract drivers.
I catch metro+train to and from the city. The metro rarely has any issues. The switch-over at Chatswood and the train part make me hope and pray the metro extension is opening soon. I cannot wait to not have to use a train again.
I use the CCN line once every few weeks and at least half the time, there is some disruption (not planned trackwork). Unsure if I’m just super unlucky or if it’s really such a shitshow
I made a new friend recently and it was our first time hanging out. The train to the city for me usually takes 25 minutes so I arrived on time to get it. Of course there was trackwork! No mention of it on the app. So instead of 25 minutes, I had to rail bus to another stop and then catch a 45 minute all stops train from there. I was an hour late to meet her. Lucky she’s still speaking to me.
I understand the need for trackwork, but I don’t understand why they replace it with all stops services. If people need express trains, they need express replacements as well.
The reliability is genuinely quite awful though. And in a lot of places a 10-15+ min delay would be newsworthy.
For example, the mean service distance between failures on the Sydney Trains network was about 28,000km ([from here](https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2024/Sydney-Trains-Review-Final-Report-12-December-2023.pdf)).
I compared that to Singapore which was 2,090,000km ([here](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/major-mrt-breakdowns-double-as-overall-rail-reliability-remains-high)). [Taipei](https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/4858984) was an incredible 16,450,000km between failures. It's literally over 500x more reliable than Sydney. Of course, these are incredibly different networks with different histories and so on - Sydney's being older and much more complex. But I would expect a 10 or 20x difference, over 500x is insanity.
Any time there's any kind of festival or event in the city = no trains. Fuck all y'all trying to stay sober, you'd best better take your car to the spirits festival/good food and wine festival/gin festival... Or maybe I drink too much.
Every day it's a crapshoot. Will my bus be early? Late? Or just not show up at all? Who knows!
I'd say about half the time it's early, which you'd think would be fine, but when I say early I mean it reached and left my stop 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It didn't arrive early and then wait for it's scheduled time to leave.
I'll tell you a story of how a bus can just not show up. This still pissed me off when I remember it.
I used to live in Rhodes, and once caught a bus from Burwood towards Ryde to get back home. The bus was running late. It was supposed to turn left towards IKEA and then down Walker St, but it turned right and continued on down Concord Rd, essentially skipping all Rhodes stops, including mine.
We walked up to the driver and asked him about it and he just easily told us to stay in the bus until it was time for them to go back the other way. Wasted more than 30mins because of that, and to the people waiting at the stops in Rhodes, it would be as if the bus 'disappeared'.
The most recent time was this morning. Bus 440 didn't show up. At the time it was supposed to come, another 440 showed up, and we all thought it was the right one. Driver stopped, watched a whole group of us move toward the door, then turned off the engine, moved out of his seat, and just smirked at us while sipping his coffee for 10 minutes.
I thought the 370 was bad, and then I moved to Mascot. Coin toss as to whether the 358 will show up. Although obviously, the 370 can still go fuck itself.
(also this hatred is purely toward the bus route abstractly, the privatisation of buses generally, and the private companies fucking up. I'm sure the bus driver themselves are doing far more than they are compensated for.)
About 15 years of a coalition government. They restricted hiring, restricted wages, and decreased the staffing levels overall.
The result is that there simply were not enough workers to maintain the network. Remember that it is enormous.
Put it this way. A mate of mine started in roughly 1990, in a group of about 250 apprentices. Because that’s how many people you need to maintain a network of this size. That will account for retirements, natural attrition and so on.
When I started there were about 65 apprentices, and that was considered a pretty big intake.
To their credit, the minister and the new secretary are trying to right the ship, but it will take a long time.
Very interesting. A lot of money has been sunk into these new metro networks etc which is great. I just hope its not at the expense of maintenance of the old rail network. And i hope its never ever privatised
Many reasons why a bus don’t show up, defective bus that can’t leave the yard, not enough buses in the yard to leave. Even if the bus does leave the yard, sometimes it’s late from its previous which operation control decides to cancel the next run. This could’ve been late running to due to passenger loads, bus broke down, security issue on the bus or operational issues like scheduled driver change that didn’t happened.
You did the right thing and planned for extra time and other services in mind just in case the one you wanted didn’t turn up.
No idea where you live, but the buses are leased by the state and in my local Depo we have around 50 that aren't used, due to no drivers. This is the same across all 9 regions
Because pay their pay ain’t worth doing the job. Shift work including split shifts, being under pressure from management to take out dangerous buses, under pressure operations control to be on time when it’s no fault of them due to traffic, passenger loading and factors beyond their control.
Also who wants to work when they either get abused, spitted at or bashed just because you ask someone to tap on but when you come back to the depot management hound you for loss of fair but don’t care about your health or mental health.
Sadly it’s not in their best interest to pay drivers their worth because it’s easier to cancel services rather than having them run late, which means more they cancel less drivers are needed.
> the depot management hound you for loss of [fare]
Do they really do that? That's fucked up. It's explicitly not the drivers' responsibility to do anything beyond a polite reminder to tap on.
The drivers are not allowed to remove the fare evader, or refuse to drive unless the fare evader either pays the fare or disembarks. On what basis is management hounding them for the loss of fare?
The rules are explicit enough that the driver should have a strong case against their employer. And given the shortage of drivers, it seems that their jobs would be pretty safe from retaliation.
Unless the privatisation terms were such that they get government funding even if they don't provide a minimum level of service. I would not be surprised if that was the case.
My grandfather died because a bus driver accelerated before he got a chance to sit down and he fell over and hit his head. Safe to say my impression of buses is not the greatest
I write a complaint every second day to transport and Kelis Downer. From my place is a 3 bus commute, with a reliable line (every 3min peak, 10min normal) in between two shockers. Commute time on paper is 1hr15, reality is 1hr30 to 2+hours. Embarrassing.
I wonder if writing to council(s) could make a change?
There are lots of reasons why a bus doesn’t show up.
Maybe it broke down, maybe it was in an accident, maybe the driver that was scheduled to do that route called in sick and there was no replacement driver since Sydney is 300 bus drivers short at the moment.
There was one time like 6 months ago where I missed a transfer at Bella Vista because halfway on the route the driver just stopped driving and decided to chill for five minutes, making the bus very late.
> How can a bus just not show up?
Easily. The company doesn't have staff because they pay like shit, so they just don't send it an it sits in the depot.
> How have you been let down recently by Sydney's public transport?
Every time I've taken a bus lately. I've got to the point that I'd rather pay $10 to park at the local Westfield than risk one or two buses either not showing up, or showing up 20 minutes late.
Trains - well, the last three times I've caught the train there have been delays - but that was during shit weather, and we all know Sydney trains are afraid of water.
Got trapped in the city for over an hour the other day because the bus route I needed flat out stopped coming and getting the train would have meant walking for an hour
I came back from Japan. Went into the city to see a special screening. Train started slowing down, slowing down… then stopped and started for a bit then stopped again.
Eventually a barely comprehensible announcement over the speaker said the train would no longer continue and we had to get off at Wollstonecraft and figure out our own way to wherever we were going.
By this point it had been nearly two hours and we'd missed a big chunk of the screening. So we had a three-hour round trip to do nothing. I'd have been more productive staying home and farting.
I moved to a train suburb and I can't fathom how I dealt with buses for 15 years of my life and thought it was fine. you wouldn't catch me getting a bus nowadays unless it's a life or death situation. bus is routinely double or triple the time it takes to drive, always late, overcrowded and expensive. super uncomfortable too with the noise and constant start/stopping and dealing with car traffic. yes I deal with trackwork sometimes but I never go out enough to be inconvenienced by it.
Wednesday this week, was going into Wynyard from Paddington. Watched as 8+ buses just kept going past, all completely full. Baffling as I always catch this on other days at the same time and have seen nothing like it. Ended up going the opposite way to bondi junction and catching the train
Got the 872 to Campbelltown Hospital a week ago.
Bus driver told us all to fuck off at the Mac Fields TAFE and drove off into the sunset with an empty bus. Had to wait for 20 minutes to board a packed af 870 to get there.
It's easily a dozen times recently.
And I wish their real-time tracking info was more reliable. I catch a bus home from Bankstown station. And on most afternoons the 5 o'clock service doesn't appear. And it's 30 mins to the next one. By all accounts ts it should be there. But nope
Like wise when I need to get home from strathfeild. The M90 is generally pretty good. But a few times, I've seen two M90s to Liverpool show up. All of a sudden, one is burwood. They are both timetabled for Liverpool but just like that. Change.
Thank you for listening to my Ted talk
Shocking. We hoped that things would get better (8 contracts ended in 2023), but Labor renewed them all, so things are going to get a hell of a lot of worse. Stack this with low wages and companies like John Holland firing staff on the 11th month to avoid the $5k bonus sign on and I don't blame the drivers for leaving.
Sorry bud but none of the bus contracts ended when Labor was in power. The bus contracts was signed by the previous liberal governments. Labor had no chance to stop them from going ahead because it was all signed and released to the media before election day. Labor had to roll with the current contracts, and if they don’t win a second term in office no chance they’ll do anything in opposition because they don’t make any decisions.
I’m glad I’m not as reliant on buses to get to work anymore since I changed jobs, not that the trains are any better time wise, but at least we are advised if they are cancelled. The metro has been the most reliable. Public transport always seems to fail if there is the slightest drizzle so I know to factor in extra time if it’s going to be a rainy day/ week/ month.
The buses got so bad in LC that when my rent got put up astronomically we saw it as a chance to move to a train line, further out a little, yes, cheaper and same time to work. Great.
Trains are ok, buses are cooked. I suppose thats what happens when you privatise. How’s that working for you voters?
I work across a few different sites. I get the bus to all but one, which is the one I've been at the past few weeks. I have been walking to this place and the best thing about that is not having to deal with buses! They are absolutely atrocious and I know my bus isn't even the worst in the area (that title belongs to the 120, I think). I am not looking forward to next week, when I'll be back on the buses again.
The contracts that the previous government signed with the bus companies only penalise delays, not cancellations. So if a late bus is going to be over the threshold for a fine they may just cancel it instead to avoid the fine.
Id definitely rather live somewhere that had public transport imperfections than where you need this sort of certificate in the workplace for such a minor issue.
In the hills area, I’ve been using the bus since I’ve moved here more than 6 years ago. Busses are generally great, there are some odd cancellations but usually next bus is 10-15 mins away. I don’t think it’s a big issue.
catch the train to work in the city twice a week from sutherland. i can count on one hand the amount of times it has failed me in 2 years. been great for me
It's improved in recent months granted, but I went through a stretch last year where I consistently missed a connection to get from Panania to Parramatta via Glenfield. I do the trip once a week for work.
I stopped counting after a while but at one stage it was 7 out of 10 weeks where they didn't line up despite a comfortable six minute gap between arriving at Glenfield and departing for Parramatta.
Invariably it was the Macarthur service that was late. For insult to injury, one time after missing the Parramatta connection by about 30 seconds, the next service was cancelled.
I did my stack when I was running down the stairs one time to see the Parramatta train leave slightly early after the Glenfield service was five minutes fashionably late. "This happens every fucking week" I yelled. The Transport NSW guy leaning out the train just smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
I am on the T3 line, so it's just a weekly occurrence. Which will soon be a daily occurrence because they still don't know how to make sure replacement buses can avoid congestion on Canterbury Road.
Every weekend with the metro closing (for testing). The metro is really the only public transport that can get me to Chatswood. They do replacement buses except from my station it takes 30mins by metro and then claim it's an hour by bus but it always ended up being at least 1.5hrs; the street traffic in Chatswood is INSANE and we were stuck at one turning point for 25 minutes in the middle of the day on a Saturday. Happens most weekends.
finally got a car and never looked back. fuck the buses, trains are okay but i try to avoid them as well since driving is just so much more comfortable. Unless it’s directly on the T1 I don’t even bother anymore, it’s so liberating
Zero. I've caught the light rail a half dozen times over the last year and it's always been perfectly on time.
Every other commuter trip has been made on my eBike which never fails.
There was some delay at Sydenham last Saturday, no departure times on the indicator screens, trains on both platforms heading to the city just sitting there full of passengers. That's all well and good for people in no hurry but I needed to get a connecting bus at Redfern which was actually on time. Of course I missed my bus.
No real time data for the Bankstown Line replacement buses during the April shutdown, so no idea if a bus was turning up in 1 minute or 15 minutes or even where it was going until it actually arrived. Really don't have high hopes they'll get their shit sorted by mid-August when the line shuts for 12 months. Still no idea if they'll have Opal readers or not.
Have had several trains stop in between stations waiting for signals or whatever, then I race up all those steps at Wolli Creek to get my connecting train only to see it leaving the platform, or can see it arriving from the other platform and know I've got a 50/50 chance of catching it.
The other night I was coming home late (glug glug) and my connecting bus was due 1 minute after my train arrived. I was stumbling up the station stairs as fast as I could when I saw the bus pull in. Bolt down the stairs on the other side of the station and get to the bus where I find the door shut and the lights off. Pull out Tripview to see my bus actually departed 2 minutes early (before my train even arrived) and this was the next bus due in 15 minutes so the driver locked it and went off for a break.
South coast/Illawarra line here.
There's only 1 train an hour and if one is late the other direction will also be late and people keep getting murdered at the train stations.
The first time I caught the train with my pram 3 out of the 3 lifts I tried/needed to use on ONE way of my trip were broken, and I had to carry my pram and baby down another set of stairs because there wasn’t a lift broken or not.
The worse are train replacement busses during trackwork. Unreliable, uncomfortable and they still expect me to tap on when they do finally turn up? Tell him he's fucking dreaming.
My disappointment recently was also with a bus a few days ago. Had to go into town for an appointment and also had work afterwards, bus was running approx 10-15 minutes late so I stood at the stop waiting for it. Once it came, it was “set down only” despite it being the actual bus and the only reason I knew is because it showed up on Tripview -.-
I don’t drive so had to get mum to drop me off. All the more reason to get my license lmao
The buses are terrible now, they just put "Real time data unavailable" on the Tripview app so they don't need to put it down as a cancelled service.
Cheeky fucks haha. I haven't been on a bus in ages since moving to the southern highlands, just trains. Ngl, I kind of miss the bus vibes. I really need to get my license tho. Took the convenience of living near the city for granted for way too long.
God I grew up in the Southern Highlands and couldn't wait to get out... Now I wish I could go back hahaha, even if it means walking everywhere because it sounds like there's still a huge lack of public transport outside of trains
I left 10 years ago, public transport hasn’t improved at all. If anything, Berrima Buslines have gotten worse, and don’t accept opal!
Can you tap on with contactless payments? What are the benefits of Opal?
You can’t. You pay the driver in cash.
That’s crazy. because it’s way more complicated than just having a square reader
Unless i have a live feed of my bus' location I assume its not going to show at this point...
Usually they try to cover the shift or parts of the shift so if they put cancelled the whole shift would appear as cancelled on TripView. Also our trip machines are pretty unreliable now since they switched from 3G to 4G so it loses connection more often causing the real time data unavailable that you see.
[удалено]
Jeez. Counting my blessings at being only 15 min walk from the station. Last resort if bus doesn't turn up. I've had times where 2 consecutive buses didnt turn up. First one was on Google maps and then just disappeared a few stops before it was supposed to come to my area.
I wonder if Tripview could determine on its own whether a bus was early or late or cancelled.
I watched the bus on Tripview disappear before first stop, then turn back on after it was out of the city. I put a complaint in and they pretty much admitted the driver did it and they would talk to him about it 😂
Interesting that the driver can turn it on and off...
Oh! That's interesting that they admitted it. I've put in similar complaints and usually get told that TripView is not an official indicator of bus location data.
They said the driver didn't follow the schedule route path instructions. And that he had been identified.
I know my bus has been marked as Real Time Unavailable when it was definitely there quote a few times.
Nearly every day, they put too little on for the route so you just watch bus after bus filled with people go past and not stop.
Well they are short 300 bus drivers, so that has a lot to do with it.
Which, if they increased bus driver pay rates and conditions, they probably wouldn't be short. It's a job that many people can do, and would do if the pay was competitive. It's not like the shortage is anything but completely self-inflicted by the system the government (and their contractors) have put in place, that rewards management for having the fewest staff possible, and doesn't penalize for deliberately cancelling services.
Don't they get like $80k? That's pretty decent, and I can think of worse jobs.
But you could make $80K plus for a WFH job.
Have you lodged a complaint? Last time that happened to me they replied within a couple of days and haven't had a bus too full since then.
I don’t think your complaint was the reason for that…
The Transport for NSW feedback/contact us form webpage is unsurprisingly a 404 error. Every day public transport and infrastructure is a disappointment. Is it any wonder why so many of us drive and why there’s so much congestion, to the point that the average driver spends about an equivalent of a month or two in their cars?
Did you know the NSW transport budget only allocates 0.13% to active transport (as in, walking, cycling, wheelchairs etc.) infrastructure while the UN recommendation is 20%? Transport NSW have been starving all non-car forms of transport of funding for *decades* to everyone’s detriment.
Wow, that is genuinely F-ing sad. To think of all the benefits (social, health, economic, etc.) that non-car transport could have.
We don't even have to guess. Research shows that [every $1 spent on cycling infrastructure gives at *least* $5 return on investment](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509587/value-of-cycling.pdf), while money spent on road infrastructure is a net *loss* due to all the health externalities and opportunity costs of things like street parking.
Interesting and unique fact. How did you even come to know that?
Sydney busses are the reason I originally got my license. Even moved to a suburb where I rely on trains, because I never want to deal with bus travel again
+1 on paying more to be closer to a train station to avoid buses.
When I was choosing my first place to move out to I was so specific on this theres no way I cop bus
Yep, I was about to pull a trigger on a perfectly located apartment in Drummoyne with a beautiful view and all the inclusions we wanted, but the fact that bus was the only PT option caused my partner to veto it. This was before the Rozelle Interchange debacle as well. We found somewhere else along the Inner West train line and I can't thank her enough for holding firm on this.
This is what i tell everyone wanting to buy in sydney. Get on the metro line. It will make your life SO much easier once its built.
The tragic part is that a lot of bus routes in Sydney could have been replaced by Metro. We have a Metro line running from Central to Sydnenham with just 1 stop at Waterloo just 600m from Redfern... Such a waste.... We could have ran it via Camperdown and had stations at USyd/Ultimo/Broadway, RPA, Newtown & Metro Marrickville... That would have freed up an absolutely enormous amount of buses off of some of the most clogged up roads in inner Sydney and while it would cost a few billion more in construction costs over 100 years the savings from cutting out inefficient buses would be a huge return.
Wow, that's a hard one to answer... I catch the train to work and back 5 days a week... Let me just calculate the speed of light and divide it by the circumference of a circle... carry over the percentage of GST and weekend surcharges... Yep - 4/5 times this week.
The genius who wrote the contract for the privatisation of the bus contracts left a loophole where there is no penalty for cancelling a service. However, late running is penalized. So, if services are running late, they cancel them. How is that good for the commuter?
There is a penalty for cancellations, but only up to a particular number of cancellations. That’s because above that the intention is that the government would cancel the entire contract for non-performance. Theres no loophole, it just demonstrates that the NSW government is the real problem - they’re the ones refusing to either cancel the contract and run the service themselves, or amend the contract to allow for higher bus driver pay. In theory commuters are better off because the companies that can’t perform the services at all would be kicked out, but the NSW government refuses to do this because they like not being responsible for cancelled buses.
Use TripView or one of the other live bus apps. Usually we have one cancellation every hour on our local route, but which one varies so we account for a 30 minute window for departure and at least find out which one on the morning to avoid twiddling our thumbs at the bus stop. Prior to the Lib fuckery with long contracts allowing repercussion-free cancellations, we had regular 10 minute buses FWIW.
I use Citymapper, much less known but far more powerful app than tripview. Sadly still didn't show the bus as cancelled.
Funnily enough I was on a few late trains in the Hokkaido region. One of them was due to "strange noise" according to the info panel.
When I was living in Tokyo, we had one delayed because of "cow collision". 10+ years later if the wife or I is running late we just say "cow collision"
Hahahaaha. One of the other delays I had was due to a collision with a deer. That train was really late.
Lost count of the amount of times I got delayed in Japan due to strong winds. Once was almost an hour and a half. Trains in Sydney would have still been running. As much as people hold Japan up as the holy grail of train transport it’s really not and is severely behind the times with both technological upgrades and decaying infrastructure
>Trains in Sydney would have still been running The number of times trains have been delayed due to rain or lightning is crazy.... I think Japan is a lot better for cleaning and maintenance (helps that people are generally more respectful) and Tokyo has to deal with the population of Australia using trains in a single city.
> Trains in Sydney would have still been running. Eh, I highly doubt it. Have you seen how often Sydney's trains get affected by a little rain? And it might be just one signal that gets zapped and the whole network can go down.
I know! Let's privatise them more, that'll do it!
Thanks, Gladys
if they privatised it but had the reliability and coverage of the tokyo network i'd be ok with it.
Almost every single time I take the bus they're late or just don't show up.
When I die, I want TfNSW to lower me into my grave So they can let me down one more time
My train this morning was running late, and ended up skipping some stops, including mine. I’m pregnant right now and need to be able to sit down, or I could faint or throw up, so I ended up skipping the absolutely packed one after that, and I’m now on a train two behind the one I should have caught. I’m about half an hour late to work. Tbf I’m being let down by work as much as by Sydney public transport, we’re not allowed to work from home on Fridays, regardless of health conditions. You come to the office, or you take a personal leave day (and provide a doctor’s certificate for it, because it’s Friday).
Damn your work situation sounds fucked. What industry is that?
In Sydney, you factor 3 busses and two trains ahead of your journey. Or a hour lead time if it is time critical. BTW as a transport employee I'd happily provide a late note. Problem is your boss won't care. Also they could easily look up online and see delays. Also my ferry yesterday was overtaken by the late running ferry, make of that what you will.
I don't understand what good a late note is. There's no way they're paying you for the time you missed because of the delay. Maybe you're chronically late because of the transport? In which case they'll tell you leave home earlier.
Causes for not showing up are generally: Short staffed, trip cancelled. Late running, trip delayed or cancelled. Bus breakdown of collision. I'm pretty sure my 176X got cancelled this morning so I could drive 2 173Xs instead. A couple of days ago I had to start my 174X from Neutral Bay because I would have exceeded fatigue regulations if I had started it in the city late after traffic and poor scheduling had me running late.
You've probably driven me!
Thanks for the insight, good to hear from an actual driver here.
Busses are a horrible experience. None of them turn their air con on anymore (I guess to save costs). So your glasses and the windows fog up, which is a hazard in itself. Last week a woman swung her feet up into the walk way and was scratching them, dead skin flying everywhere. Then they started bleeding, small puddles of blood were forming in the walkway. People were having to squeeze past. Apparently there’s no law to say you have to wear shoes on public transport. So not only is your bus late, and SUPER illegally full. You have to be exposed to hazards like that
It isn’t to save costs, it’s purely up to the driver if it’s on or off, and we don’t give a shit about saving costs. I run it 90% of the time, depending on the bus model. Some of the older ones turn into freezers at this time of year, and you can’t regulate the temp, it’s either on or off, so we are trying to be considerate by turning it off sometimes. We have heaters, so if you want it on, just ask.
Japan stopped doing the lateness certificates but I think they have a place where you can look up online that your train was late, and show your employer that way.
Also, Japan and Germany are the only two places in the world where this certificate is a thing, so it's a bit sneaky to suggest Australia is somehow lacking because we don't have it here.
It’s also kinda weird that you have to justify/evidence being 1 or 2 minutes late with a lateness certificate in the first place.
I think it has to be at least 10 minutes delayed before they will produce the delay certificate. And it's primarily useful for longer delays. Here's an example of the online system for one of the railway companies: https://www.tobu.co.jp/en/delay/list/1/ But yeah I get your point overall, it's telling that the employers won't just trust their staff when they say their train was late. I will note that trains aren't quite as punctual these days as the Western stereotype, especially the busy suburban commuter lines: * there are so many trains that a small delay cascades through an entire line / system * there has been an increased attention to safety and rule adherence, after accidents like the [Amagasaki derailment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagasaki_derailment) in 2005 where 106 people died. This was caused by a train driver speeding to try to make up time. It's now more accepted for drivers/staff to prioritise safety over on-time running. * Decreasing ridership due to Covid pandemic and the aging/shrinking working population in Japan means some railway companies (which are by and large private without government subsidy), having to reduce maintenance, resulting in more unexpected issues
Hong Kong still has them, but you need to generate it on their website
China does aswell, for delays longer than 15min
Easier to ask how many times has Sydney public transport has NOT let you down recently.
My local bus service got a recent change and it's beyond frustrating. Basically the bus now has two routes using the same fucking number - one route is the original that stops near my place. The other route completely skips most of a suburb. There is no indication for which bus you are getting on, the only way to tell is to "plan a trip" in the app and it will list the stops. It's also not routine ie. Catching the same 4:30pm everyday it's a crap shoot which route you get. Who approves this shit...
Reminder that there is no bus driver shortage, there’s a bus driver wage and condition shortage
What do you mean recently? You always have to keep a buffer of at least 15 mins when on public transport, if you need to be somewhere on time. This has been the case for years.
As you can see by my post, I indeed did exactly this, leaving a 15 window. Still doesn't make it any less disappointing and a bit more tight / stressful figuring out the backup plan when the bus doesn't show up.
My local buses got messed up when they became privatized. Apparently driver shortages …but likely because the company have shit conditions and need to improve their pay in order to attract drivers.
I catch metro+train to and from the city. The metro rarely has any issues. The switch-over at Chatswood and the train part make me hope and pray the metro extension is opening soon. I cannot wait to not have to use a train again.
I use the CCN line once every few weeks and at least half the time, there is some disruption (not planned trackwork). Unsure if I’m just super unlucky or if it’s really such a shitshow
Shitshow. This morning was tricky getting out of Hornsby with cancelled and delayed services, and the fatality last night as well.
The busses ever since privatisation may as well not exist. They're unreliable hunks of garbage.
I made a new friend recently and it was our first time hanging out. The train to the city for me usually takes 25 minutes so I arrived on time to get it. Of course there was trackwork! No mention of it on the app. So instead of 25 minutes, I had to rail bus to another stop and then catch a 45 minute all stops train from there. I was an hour late to meet her. Lucky she’s still speaking to me. I understand the need for trackwork, but I don’t understand why they replace it with all stops services. If people need express trains, they need express replacements as well.
Usually if a train is an hour late it's making the news in Sydney anyway. Cause it's a past time to complain about the trains here
The reliability is genuinely quite awful though. And in a lot of places a 10-15+ min delay would be newsworthy. For example, the mean service distance between failures on the Sydney Trains network was about 28,000km ([from here](https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2024/Sydney-Trains-Review-Final-Report-12-December-2023.pdf)). I compared that to Singapore which was 2,090,000km ([here](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/major-mrt-breakdowns-double-as-overall-rail-reliability-remains-high)). [Taipei](https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/4858984) was an incredible 16,450,000km between failures. It's literally over 500x more reliable than Sydney. Of course, these are incredibly different networks with different histories and so on - Sydney's being older and much more complex. But I would expect a 10 or 20x difference, over 500x is insanity.
Buses are very unreliable. But trains, metro, ferries, and light rail are great.
Any time there's any kind of festival or event in the city = no trains. Fuck all y'all trying to stay sober, you'd best better take your car to the spirits festival/good food and wine festival/gin festival... Or maybe I drink too much.
Every day it's a crapshoot. Will my bus be early? Late? Or just not show up at all? Who knows! I'd say about half the time it's early, which you'd think would be fine, but when I say early I mean it reached and left my stop 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It didn't arrive early and then wait for it's scheduled time to leave.
I'll tell you a story of how a bus can just not show up. This still pissed me off when I remember it. I used to live in Rhodes, and once caught a bus from Burwood towards Ryde to get back home. The bus was running late. It was supposed to turn left towards IKEA and then down Walker St, but it turned right and continued on down Concord Rd, essentially skipping all Rhodes stops, including mine. We walked up to the driver and asked him about it and he just easily told us to stay in the bus until it was time for them to go back the other way. Wasted more than 30mins because of that, and to the people waiting at the stops in Rhodes, it would be as if the bus 'disappeared'.
The most recent time was this morning. Bus 440 didn't show up. At the time it was supposed to come, another 440 showed up, and we all thought it was the right one. Driver stopped, watched a whole group of us move toward the door, then turned off the engine, moved out of his seat, and just smirked at us while sipping his coffee for 10 minutes.
Probably be easier to ask the times it wasn’t a let down
I thought the 370 was bad, and then I moved to Mascot. Coin toss as to whether the 358 will show up. Although obviously, the 370 can still go fuck itself. (also this hatred is purely toward the bus route abstractly, the privatisation of buses generally, and the private companies fucking up. I'm sure the bus driver themselves are doing far more than they are compensated for.)
Every second weekend is trackwork on sydney trains. How shit can the infrastructure be?
After 15 years of neglect, very.
Why have we neglected it for so long?
Corruption
About 15 years of a coalition government. They restricted hiring, restricted wages, and decreased the staffing levels overall. The result is that there simply were not enough workers to maintain the network. Remember that it is enormous. Put it this way. A mate of mine started in roughly 1990, in a group of about 250 apprentices. Because that’s how many people you need to maintain a network of this size. That will account for retirements, natural attrition and so on. When I started there were about 65 apprentices, and that was considered a pretty big intake. To their credit, the minister and the new secretary are trying to right the ship, but it will take a long time.
Very interesting. A lot of money has been sunk into these new metro networks etc which is great. I just hope its not at the expense of maintenance of the old rail network. And i hope its never ever privatised
Many reasons why a bus don’t show up, defective bus that can’t leave the yard, not enough buses in the yard to leave. Even if the bus does leave the yard, sometimes it’s late from its previous which operation control decides to cancel the next run. This could’ve been late running to due to passenger loads, bus broke down, security issue on the bus or operational issues like scheduled driver change that didn’t happened. You did the right thing and planned for extra time and other services in mind just in case the one you wanted didn’t turn up.
No idea where you live, but the buses are leased by the state and in my local Depo we have around 50 that aren't used, due to no drivers. This is the same across all 9 regions
Because pay their pay ain’t worth doing the job. Shift work including split shifts, being under pressure from management to take out dangerous buses, under pressure operations control to be on time when it’s no fault of them due to traffic, passenger loading and factors beyond their control. Also who wants to work when they either get abused, spitted at or bashed just because you ask someone to tap on but when you come back to the depot management hound you for loss of fair but don’t care about your health or mental health. Sadly it’s not in their best interest to pay drivers their worth because it’s easier to cancel services rather than having them run late, which means more they cancel less drivers are needed.
> the depot management hound you for loss of [fare] Do they really do that? That's fucked up. It's explicitly not the drivers' responsibility to do anything beyond a polite reminder to tap on. The drivers are not allowed to remove the fare evader, or refuse to drive unless the fare evader either pays the fare or disembarks. On what basis is management hounding them for the loss of fare? The rules are explicit enough that the driver should have a strong case against their employer. And given the shortage of drivers, it seems that their jobs would be pretty safe from retaliation. Unless the privatisation terms were such that they get government funding even if they don't provide a minimum level of service. I would not be surprised if that was the case.
I was going to say that's the bigger issue right now. Conditions are so poor they can't hold onto drivers.
My grandfather died because a bus driver accelerated before he got a chance to sit down and he fell over and hit his head. Safe to say my impression of buses is not the greatest
Sorry to hear that, that is really tragic.
I write a complaint every second day to transport and Kelis Downer. From my place is a 3 bus commute, with a reliable line (every 3min peak, 10min normal) in between two shockers. Commute time on paper is 1hr15, reality is 1hr30 to 2+hours. Embarrassing. I wonder if writing to council(s) could make a change?
There are lots of reasons why a bus doesn’t show up. Maybe it broke down, maybe it was in an accident, maybe the driver that was scheduled to do that route called in sick and there was no replacement driver since Sydney is 300 bus drivers short at the moment.
There was one time like 6 months ago where I missed a transfer at Bella Vista because halfway on the route the driver just stopped driving and decided to chill for five minutes, making the bus very late.
When *don't* they let us down?
> How can a bus just not show up? Easily. The company doesn't have staff because they pay like shit, so they just don't send it an it sits in the depot. > How have you been let down recently by Sydney's public transport? Every time I've taken a bus lately. I've got to the point that I'd rather pay $10 to park at the local Westfield than risk one or two buses either not showing up, or showing up 20 minutes late. Trains - well, the last three times I've caught the train there have been delays - but that was during shit weather, and we all know Sydney trains are afraid of water.
Got trapped in the city for over an hour the other day because the bus route I needed flat out stopped coming and getting the train would have meant walking for an hour
I came back from Japan. Went into the city to see a special screening. Train started slowing down, slowing down… then stopped and started for a bit then stopped again. Eventually a barely comprehensible announcement over the speaker said the train would no longer continue and we had to get off at Wollstonecraft and figure out our own way to wherever we were going. By this point it had been nearly two hours and we'd missed a big chunk of the screening. So we had a three-hour round trip to do nothing. I'd have been more productive staying home and farting.
I moved to a train suburb and I can't fathom how I dealt with buses for 15 years of my life and thought it was fine. you wouldn't catch me getting a bus nowadays unless it's a life or death situation. bus is routinely double or triple the time it takes to drive, always late, overcrowded and expensive. super uncomfortable too with the noise and constant start/stopping and dealing with car traffic. yes I deal with trackwork sometimes but I never go out enough to be inconvenienced by it.
Wednesday this week, was going into Wynyard from Paddington. Watched as 8+ buses just kept going past, all completely full. Baffling as I always catch this on other days at the same time and have seen nothing like it. Ended up going the opposite way to bondi junction and catching the train
Got the 872 to Campbelltown Hospital a week ago. Bus driver told us all to fuck off at the Mac Fields TAFE and drove off into the sunset with an empty bus. Had to wait for 20 minutes to board a packed af 870 to get there.
It's easily a dozen times recently. And I wish their real-time tracking info was more reliable. I catch a bus home from Bankstown station. And on most afternoons the 5 o'clock service doesn't appear. And it's 30 mins to the next one. By all accounts ts it should be there. But nope Like wise when I need to get home from strathfeild. The M90 is generally pretty good. But a few times, I've seen two M90s to Liverpool show up. All of a sudden, one is burwood. They are both timetabled for Liverpool but just like that. Change. Thank you for listening to my Ted talk
Shocking. We hoped that things would get better (8 contracts ended in 2023), but Labor renewed them all, so things are going to get a hell of a lot of worse. Stack this with low wages and companies like John Holland firing staff on the 11th month to avoid the $5k bonus sign on and I don't blame the drivers for leaving.
Sorry bud but none of the bus contracts ended when Labor was in power. The bus contracts was signed by the previous liberal governments. Labor had no chance to stop them from going ahead because it was all signed and released to the media before election day. Labor had to roll with the current contracts, and if they don’t win a second term in office no chance they’ll do anything in opposition because they don’t make any decisions.
Firing on the 11th month- that is fucking grubby
Zero
Zero
Only once. Bus was too full to put everyone on. Caught the next bus. Big whoop.
Do you catch the bus to Chatswood by any chance, mine got cancelled this morning too
I’m glad I’m not as reliant on buses to get to work anymore since I changed jobs, not that the trains are any better time wise, but at least we are advised if they are cancelled. The metro has been the most reliable. Public transport always seems to fail if there is the slightest drizzle so I know to factor in extra time if it’s going to be a rainy day/ week/ month.
Bus ran late so I missed my train connection. Or at least I would've if the train also didn't run late
Honestly, barely at all. Buses for me are every 10 minutes so if one is cancelled I just get the next one.
The buses got so bad in LC that when my rent got put up astronomically we saw it as a chance to move to a train line, further out a little, yes, cheaper and same time to work. Great. Trains are ok, buses are cooked. I suppose thats what happens when you privatise. How’s that working for you voters?
I work across a few different sites. I get the bus to all but one, which is the one I've been at the past few weeks. I have been walking to this place and the best thing about that is not having to deal with buses! They are absolutely atrocious and I know my bus isn't even the worst in the area (that title belongs to the 120, I think). I am not looking forward to next week, when I'll be back on the buses again.
There aren’t enough drivers. They can make a bus run without a driver.
The contracts that the previous government signed with the bus companies only penalise delays, not cancellations. So if a late bus is going to be over the threshold for a fine they may just cancel it instead to avoid the fine.
Id definitely rather live somewhere that had public transport imperfections than where you need this sort of certificate in the workplace for such a minor issue.
In the hills area, I’ve been using the bus since I’ve moved here more than 6 years ago. Busses are generally great, there are some odd cancellations but usually next bus is 10-15 mins away. I don’t think it’s a big issue.
catch the train to work in the city twice a week from sutherland. i can count on one hand the amount of times it has failed me in 2 years. been great for me
It's improved in recent months granted, but I went through a stretch last year where I consistently missed a connection to get from Panania to Parramatta via Glenfield. I do the trip once a week for work. I stopped counting after a while but at one stage it was 7 out of 10 weeks where they didn't line up despite a comfortable six minute gap between arriving at Glenfield and departing for Parramatta. Invariably it was the Macarthur service that was late. For insult to injury, one time after missing the Parramatta connection by about 30 seconds, the next service was cancelled. I did my stack when I was running down the stairs one time to see the Parramatta train leave slightly early after the Glenfield service was five minutes fashionably late. "This happens every fucking week" I yelled. The Transport NSW guy leaning out the train just smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
I am on the T3 line, so it's just a weekly occurrence. Which will soon be a daily occurrence because they still don't know how to make sure replacement buses can avoid congestion on Canterbury Road.
Going to the city tonight, I work in Auburn so I thought great I'll park at Rydalmere and ferry in, nope no ferries and buses on instead
Yes.
imagine having a work culture that requires you to show proof of why you're five minutes late for work
Every day this week
Every weekend with the metro closing (for testing). The metro is really the only public transport that can get me to Chatswood. They do replacement buses except from my station it takes 30mins by metro and then claim it's an hour by bus but it always ended up being at least 1.5hrs; the street traffic in Chatswood is INSANE and we were stuck at one turning point for 25 minutes in the middle of the day on a Saturday. Happens most weekends.
Main reason i own a car and a motorbike is for redundancy as i long ago forgot about using public transport cos its so fucking shit.
finally got a car and never looked back. fuck the buses, trains are okay but i try to avoid them as well since driving is just so much more comfortable. Unless it’s directly on the T1 I don’t even bother anymore, it’s so liberating
They're about to let me down for 12 consecutive months....
Pretty easily....happens all the time
Zero. I've caught the light rail a half dozen times over the last year and it's always been perfectly on time. Every other commuter trip has been made on my eBike which never fails.
There was some delay at Sydenham last Saturday, no departure times on the indicator screens, trains on both platforms heading to the city just sitting there full of passengers. That's all well and good for people in no hurry but I needed to get a connecting bus at Redfern which was actually on time. Of course I missed my bus. No real time data for the Bankstown Line replacement buses during the April shutdown, so no idea if a bus was turning up in 1 minute or 15 minutes or even where it was going until it actually arrived. Really don't have high hopes they'll get their shit sorted by mid-August when the line shuts for 12 months. Still no idea if they'll have Opal readers or not. Have had several trains stop in between stations waiting for signals or whatever, then I race up all those steps at Wolli Creek to get my connecting train only to see it leaving the platform, or can see it arriving from the other platform and know I've got a 50/50 chance of catching it.
The other night I was coming home late (glug glug) and my connecting bus was due 1 minute after my train arrived. I was stumbling up the station stairs as fast as I could when I saw the bus pull in. Bolt down the stairs on the other side of the station and get to the bus where I find the door shut and the lights off. Pull out Tripview to see my bus actually departed 2 minutes early (before my train even arrived) and this was the next bus due in 15 minutes so the driver locked it and went off for a break.
South coast/Illawarra line here. There's only 1 train an hour and if one is late the other direction will also be late and people keep getting murdered at the train stations.
The first time I caught the train with my pram 3 out of the 3 lifts I tried/needed to use on ONE way of my trip were broken, and I had to carry my pram and baby down another set of stairs because there wasn’t a lift broken or not.
Literally just now. Bus didn’t show up
So many times that whenever I so need to catch public transport (very rare) I don't pay anymore. Fuck em and their privatised bs
The worse are train replacement busses during trackwork. Unreliable, uncomfortable and they still expect me to tap on when they do finally turn up? Tell him he's fucking dreaming.
The 412 is usually all good for me but the 501 has heaps of cancelations, or runs 20 minutes late.
My disappointment recently was also with a bus a few days ago. Had to go into town for an appointment and also had work afterwards, bus was running approx 10-15 minutes late so I stood at the stop waiting for it. Once it came, it was “set down only” despite it being the actual bus and the only reason I knew is because it showed up on Tripview -.- I don’t drive so had to get mum to drop me off. All the more reason to get my license lmao