Westbus 782 - Deleted Bus Service Since October 2009 - North St Marys!

We have a new member, Patricia who is lobbying for the re-reinstatement of 782 within North St Marys and she has some valid reasons - I  have her authority to provide you a  details of her issues and some other elderly commuters in her area.  She sent e-mail on 7/2/11 and I have been holding back publishing her e-mail until I met her, until last weekend. Here is her communities issues:

Bart Bassett gave me your e-mail address suggesting that I contact you re buses.

I live in the north St Marys area and when the current timetable came in I did attend a meeting in a hall and another one in Dawson Mall re the timetable commencing 11 October 2009 about how a lot of people were being inconvenienced.

My area used to be serviced by route 782 which went from St Marys station to Penrith station.  The north St Marys leg of the 782 was cancelled and now terminates at Werrington station 25 times a day.  The reason given for cancelling this service was poor passenger numbers. 

Well, what I would like to know is - how come routes 774, 775 and 776 are allowed to operate between St Marys station and Penrith with poor passenger numbers.  These 3 routes leave Mt Druitt station for St Marys via Oxley Park, Erskine Park and St Clair, then continue on to Penrith 102 times a day with a bus departing St Marys every 10 minutes and all 3 doing an identical route.  Prior to this timetable buses didn't go on to Penrith like this.  Although, for 3 months prior to the introduction of the current timetable 774 was introduced between St Marys and Penrith and this was replaced by the 774 from Mt Druitt to St Marys via Oxley Park. 

I've been on these buses quite a few times to note the passenger numbers.  How can passenger numbers be anything but poor when there are that number of buses.  Drivers have told me that sometimes they go all the way empty.  This number of buses has to be reduced and the subsidy saved used to replace other services.

I told Bart Bassett that on one occasion recently while I waited 45 minutes for route 759, I witnessed the following buses leaving St Marys for Penrith: 

        775 departed at 10.17 - no passengers

        776 departed at 10.27 - there were 2 on the bus when it arrived and 2 were picked up

        770 departed at 10.28 - no passengers  This route is slightly different to 774, 775 and 776 but still goes to Penrith

        775 departed at 10.37 - 1 adult and 2 children were already on the bus and no passengers were picked up

        776 departed at 10.47 - no passengers

How can this be allowed?  The reason I waited 45 minutes was because the 759 buses are cut down from half-hourly to hourly between 11 and 2.  If It's good enough to cut down the 759 services why are the 774, 775 and 776 not cut down?

In this area there are quite a few elderly residents, some needing walking aids but they are forgotten. My 84 year old neighbour has been told that she should apply for a half-fare taxi, but there's a big difference between a $7 taxi fare and a $1 bus fare especially when you're on a pension.  Another 84 year old, who was renting, has had to move.  Another 84 year old is just grateful that she can still use her legs. We're not asking for the replacement of the 22 buses we had, just give us some buses maybe 12. Maybe 12 of the 25 Werrington terminations could continue on to St Marys and passenger numbers would not be so "poor" with a reduced number of buses, which is what should have been done before cancelling the route altogether.

Another thing Westbus is allowed to do with the blessing of the Ministry for Transport, especially on a weekend, is depart from the station without giving train commuters time to get from the train to the bus. Some buses even depart 1 minute before the train arrives.  that kind of service is that?  A person could, of course, catch an earlier train and wait 30 minutes for a bus but my argument is that if a bus is going to be at the station up to 1 minute before a train arrives at least wait for the train to arrive and give commuters time to get to the bus. 

I live about mid-way between 759 (Westbus) and 758 (Busways) and the Ministry for Transport told me via a letter to Alan Shearan that I should forget about the 759 and catch the 758 as I only live 600 metres from the stop in Debrincat  Avenue especially as Busways waits for the trains and gives commuters time to get to the bus.  That's OK for me but not for someone who lives at Willmot.  What do I do get the 758 and leave my friend from Willmot to wait an hour for the 759.

The red metro buses in the city run every 10 minutes in peak hour, yet here in the St Mays/Penrith area we have a 10 minute service all day long peak hour and non-peak hour.  I can understand a 10 minute service in the city but here I cannot understand it.

I hope you find this information interesting and good luck in what you are doing for residents relying on buses and residents who would rely on buses if there were buses to rely. 

Regards

Patricia Guy

My comments: To me, this is not just a political decision, but a social decision not to make connections to meet community needs. At the end of the day, this is the same that has happen in pocket areas of Mount Druitt - so now we take on another issue and work on improve the service as suggested.