Anyone who catches a bus in Sydney probably hate-clicked this article so savagely, you broke your phone screen. As a loyal 387 commuter myself, I empathise. We have it shit. You train folk don’t know FUCK ALL about what transport can do to a persons soul, OK?
Ok you maybe do. Trains, they can be shit – I’ve dated two people from the Inner West in the last year and fuck me, that train line to the city is stupid-packed and never has air con.
But trains actually SHOW THE FUCK UP. Buses? They just do what they bloody want. No matter how much we say “cheers mate” to the bus driver, those buses and their masters will just do whatever the shit they feel like doing, whenever they feel like doing it.
According to the SMH, real-time bus data observed over a 4 month period shows that one in five buses were 20 minutes late or more across the worst routes. TWENTY MINUTES OR MORE, TRAIN FOLKS.
The shittiest buses?
Hats off to people forced to ride the 370 from Leichhardt through Newtown to Coogee, because it scored the title of the tardiest bus line in Sydney. Here’s what one rider, Martin Cooper, had to say to the SMH about his experience.
“I catch the 370 bus every day and it’s been late every time. Every single time, It’s terribly annoying. I have to catch an earlier bus just to make sure that I get to work on time. That’s half an hour [and] I have been late because of it.”
The 370 had 123 late buses during the AM peak period, and 156 during the PM peak period. While the Inner West had plenty of other buses on the list, the second shittiest was the Bondi Junction – Burwood 400 with 67 buses late during the AM and 107 during the PM. The M92 and the M91 are both in the top 5, with the M20 rounding it out. So basically, we’re all screwed.
Other bus services of note? While the M10 from Maroubra Junction to Leichhardt was pretty dece of a morning, it had 100 tardy buses for the PM peak period. Sucked in if you were trying to get home at a decent hour. The 418 from Bondi Junction to Burwood and the 377 from Maroubra Beach to Circular Quay also had some hefty tardy evenings, racking up 63 and 54 respective late buses.
According to the most recent Customer Satisfaction Survey from the NSW Government, commuters gave bus transport an 89% satisfaction rating overall.
We are publishing these results to keep public transport operators and ourselves accountable for the decisions we make and to drive continual improvement across the transport network. We will keep talking with customers about what matters to them, be accountable for our performance and in turn drive a better public transport system for all customers.
Hopefully some of that “better public transport system” business hits that 370 route, eh?
