Councillor Chris Harris

New cuts to the 311 bus service are the latest insult to East Sydney residents who have seen their bus services decrease over the past six years.

East Sydney residents need better public transport services, not more cutbacks.  It is tragic that this government is making cutbacks to public transport at a time when the need for an efficient, reliable system is the only thing that will get people out of their cars.  But worse is that those without the use of a car, the elderly and not so mobile, are being denied access to parts of the city to attend appointments and to link up with trains and ferries so they can go further a field on public transport.

The route will run to and from Gresham Street, quite a walk for an elderly or disabled person down to the Quay and will have fewer stops around the CBD.  The bus will now travel along St Mary’s Road to Macquarie Street eliminating important pick-up and drop-off points for passengers wanting to access the city’s commercial centre around Elizabeth, Park and Market Streets. It will no longer continue to Railway Square, thus denying passengers access to a major transport hub.  A loop via Billyard Avenue in Elizabeth Bay will be discontinued, meaning accessing a bus will be impossible for some residents. Roads are narrow here but smaller buses could be a solution if the government was serious about providing services for its constituents.

Understandably, East Sydney residents are up in arms again. They have suffered these cuts for years and one local resident describes the government’s intention like this: “The service will certainly be even shorter in terms of time because there will be fewer and fewer passengers on the bus due to the fact that it no longer services the main commercial area of the city.”

Residents say the bus which used to run every 10 minutes in peak hour and had standing room only, an indication of how well patronised it was, is now supposed to come every 15 minutes, but often doesn’t come at all and carries only a handful of passengers.  The areas of Elizabeth Bay and Potts Point have had massive population increases over the last few years and yet public transport has decreased.

I strongly urge people affected by these cutbacks to flood the Minister of Transport’s office with phone calls, emails and letters to complain about the cutbacks and demand the reinstatement of an efficient and reliable service.

Contact details for Minister for Transport

Mr John Watkins
Minister for Transport
Level 30 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
Sydney 2000

Phone: 9228 4866
Email:  dp.office@watkins.minister.nsw.gov.au