By Janet Oakley, Convenor Traffic and Transport Subcommittee, Bulletin 01/2025, March
New bus timetables came into force on 4 February.
The 370 has not been restored to its original route despite promises and even announcements that it would be. The new 370 timetable provides for buses at eccentric intervals eg, 8, 10, 11 and 13 minutes, despite being supposed to operate at 10-minute intervals. Although the total journey takes more than an hour, only nine stops are mentioned in the timetable and only one of those stops is in Glebe. This makes planning a journey starting or ending in Glebe difficult.
The Glebe Society has asked the local member, Kobi Shetty, to assist in ascertaining when the route will be restored. She is expected to put a Question on Notice about the issue this week. We hope that the answer will reveal concrete plans.
On the new timetable, the 431 runs at intervals at peak periods varying between 10 and 13 minutes but then only runs at 20-minute intervals for the rest of the day. This is the only Glebe Point Road bus that goes to Martin Place.
The 470 runs at 10-minute intervals throughout the day.
On the published timetable the 433 operates at regular 10-minute intervals on Monday to Saturday until 7 pm but then drops back to 25- and 20-minute intervals until midnight. The late-night service on this route operates only on Saturday and Friday and then only hourly. The timetable published on the poles at bus stops is now conceptual and provides intervals rather than target times.
The 433 only runs to Railway Square, which means that people using this route have to change to get into the CBD. The route was shortened when work was being conducted on the Light Rail in George Street. Extension of the route to Martin Place has also been raised with our local member.
Auditor General’s performance audit
Lateness and cancelled buses continue to be a problem. This is not specific to Glebe area buses. The NSW Auditor General’s Office conducted a performance audit of metropolitan Sydney bus service contracts and its report, Bus contracts in metropolitan Sydney: performance audit, was released on 29 January (The Audit Report). The Audit Report found that Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is not effectively managing bus contracts to ensure operators meet contracted obligations and customer needs. It has not responded strategically to major changes in commuter, work and travel patterns on metropolitan bus services.
TfNSW identified significant gaps in its strategic contract management capacity since 2022 but has not sufficiently addressed these. As a result, it has not undertaken the essential medium- to long-term strategic activities required to effectively manage the Greater Sydney Bus Contracts (GSBCs). It has not conducted a holistic, systematic review of service levels across all regions to fully address the impacts of the post-COVID-19 period and other changes, such as new infrastructure and travel options like the Sydney Metro M1 line.
First stop on time running1 has stabilised since January 2023. However, operators are not consistently meeting their performance obligations for the performance indicators: on time running, cancelled trips and customer complaints.
There are gaps in TfNSW’s contract management-specific procedures and delegations. These gaps mean that the risks of inappropriate exercise of delegations, non-compliance with contractual requirements or inappropriate use of public funds are not fully addressed (Audit Office of NSW, 2025)
Hopefully we will see some improvement. We will keep you posted.
Note 1: ‘First stop on time running’ (OTR) ‘is defined in Schedule 4 of the GSBC with three KPIs – first, mid and last stop OTR. All three are measured as the percentage of timetabled bus trips that are on time at the specified location. GSBC operators are required to report to Transport for NSW (TfNSW) on these three KPIs every month. … For the first and mid stops ‘on time’ is defined as between 59 seconds early and five minutes and 59 seconds late compared to the timetable’ (Audit Office of NSW, 2025, p. 24)
2 comments. Please add yours.
Thanks for your comment, which we have passed on to Janet. As regards raising awareness with local MPs, you can contact the local state MP for the area, Kobi Shetty, by email to balmain@parliament.nsw.gov.au or phone call to 9660 7586 or going into her office at 201-205 Glebe Point Road.
Hi Janet,
Thank you for raising this matter. It has been quite chaotic to get any bus from Glebe, Annandale and Forest Lodge for the last few weeks. The buses are full and have to wait 4-5 buses to get to work. What is the best way to raise awareness to this to local MPs who are concerned with the area as people just go around blaming themselves for not being early and not look at these systematic issues.