Lower north shore bus queues stretch for 700 metres, students miss class, and services cancelled.

By ANNA USHER

Local school students are arriving late to class after lengthy waits at lower north shore bus stops due to cancelled services and full-capacity vehicles.

Mosman Collective has been inundated with complaints from angry residents, who say they’ve been left with no other option but to drive their children to school, creating more “unnecessary peak hour chaos” particularly in North Sydney.

Mother of two, Sally Taylor-Clarke, said her boys had lost valuable lesson time since the start of the academic year thanks to out-of-service bendy buses and a driver shortage.

“The bus system has become an absolute farce,” Ms Taylor-Clarke said, “many parents are now having to drive their kids to school, contributing to the chronic traffic congestion caused by the Warringah Expressway upgrade.”

Another Mosman parent, who did not wish to be named, has told Mosman Collective her Year 6 child at a North Sydney school is facing significant challenges following the cancellation of the 228 service from Clifton Gardens.

“Over the past week, my boy has been unable to board the 230 bus on at least five occasions in seven days because it has been at full capacity,” she said.

“This situation not only causes stress for the children but also impacts their punctuality and attendance at school.”

The woman said one parent had to rush to a local bus stop last week and ferry a group of boys to school after they could not get on four consecutive buses.

“This is not an isolated incident,” she said; it is clear that the cancellation of the 228 is creating significant problems for families in our community.”

Lower north shore resident Amanda Smythe said it could take her daughter, who is in year 8 at a North Sydney school, up to an hour to travel by bus from Cammeray to the school gates.

“It seems there are simply not enough to take the number of passengers. Buses don’t stop as they are already full, which means it can take 45 minutes to be able to get on the bus. If they do take passengers, it’s often only a handful.”

She said she had “given up” on buses and was driving her daughter to school. “Given the number of schools in North Sydney, we would be better with dedicated school buses,” she said.

According to the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, up to 90 services operating out of a Mona Vale bus depot are cancelled on weekdays. In addition, 40 services operated out of Brookvale are typically cancelled each day, and about 50 are from a North Sydney depot.

RTBU divisional president Peter Grech told the Sydney Morning Herald that private operators were squeezing running times to keep buses on the road despite having unachievable route times and insufficient bus numbers.

“The whole network is a mess. We have queues at bus stops close to 700 metres long in the morning peak at Dee Why, Manly Vale, Spit Junction, Neutral Bay Junction and Lane Cove. All the main stops are getting hammered,” he said.

Busways, which provides services covering the north shore and northern beaches and lower north shore operator Keolis Downer, were among the worst performers of the government-contracted bus operators in Sydney in December, Transport for NSW’s latest figures show.

The 83 Volvo bendy-buses that have been pulled from service were built between 2005 and 2006, with the longer articulated vehicles are often replaced by standard buses that seat fewer people.

Busways acknowledged that some services had been delayed or cancelled and apologised to commuters for the inconvenience.

Keolis Downer said in a statement that it was “focused on service reliability by addressing driver shortages and optimising the use of our available fleet”.

This week, a community petition calling for Keolis Downer to be “ousted” from lower north shore and northern beaches routes was launched, asking the NSW government to “bring the bus services back into public hands”.

“Keolis Downer has proven time and time again they are incapable of providing a reliable service to the already disconnected areas of the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore,” it reads.

“As seen on the 24th of Feb 2025, when the Spit Bridge got shut down in peak hour, there is no other option for nearly all residents but to use the buses.

“Because no alternatives exist, Keolis Downer has no incentive to hire more drivers, offer them good pay, create a good network or run a reliable service. This has led to a chronic driver shortage, timetable cuts, and thousands of stranded commuters every morning, with queues that take well over four hours to clear at peak hour on a good day.”