Panic in the Hills – Part 2

Day 2 of the Metro during the first ‘operational issue’

A few months ago in Part 1, I wrote about the incoming panic of the proposed changes to the Hills District bus network pending the full implementation of Sydney Metro. I wrote about the three different options that TfNSW would consider in the redrawing of the network. I was a bit disappointed that TfNSW decided to go with the compromise option but upon further investigation it became apparent that this was due to external factors.

“This is the start of something very special for our state,”

Andrew Constance

Since the start of operations of Sydney Metro, there has been numerous teetering issues from operation issues, someone letting off fire alarms and the occasional door problem. Nevertheless, most of the system has run to good performance but only until the release of the on time running can this be verified. While Sydney Metro is not running to the CBD at the moment, Sydney Trains has had its timetable tweaked to provide additional capacity for the passengers that made the switch from bus to metro. However, this transition has been somewhat minimal.

Usually the Opal fare policy is the main culprit, the penrose triangle that TfNSW refuses to fix (although Opal is going under another IPART review) due to the Dunning–Kruger effect preventing the implementation of zonal fares to replace distance based fares (as well as the last proposal causing a media panic and refusal to ever reconsider a return to the MyMulti zonal system). The Opal penalty causing an additional fare increase of two separate fares regardless of the new Gladys election promise Opal cap or not. There is also the minor design flaw that will always plague the metro upon which the journey time will always be considerably longer due to the Epping to Chatswood section not being made for metro.

It just so happens only ten years ago, a Four Corners episode Off the Rails explored the growing hatred of the Carr-Iemma-Rees government due to the failings of providing a rail link to the Hills District (due to the lack of political gain in a very safe liberal area and electrical privatisation woes). The solution was instead to provide as many express buses as economically possible trying to give every suburb a direct CBD link via the M2. Despite the construction of the North West T-Link in 2007 to provide an option for the Hills to connect to the CBD via Parramatta, most stuck with their peak hour express buses and the M2 traffic that went with it.

“The residents of the Sydney’s south and north west have become accustomed to living in a world of gridlock with little or no public transport.”

WENDY CARLISLE – Four Corners

So here we are, ten years later and Australia’s first automated rapid transit system opens…and I’m reading a petition calling for a return of express buses to the Hills with 3000 signatures. Wait did we do something wrong?

“The Sydney Metro does not adequately meet the needs of the people of the North West please don’t cut the services like the 607x that do.”

Change.org

Yes, the heading of this is somewhat hyperbole but every city has been plagued by the concept of the express bus. Now do not get me wrong, express buses are very popular in cities, but they go against the characteristics of an integrated bus network. The biggest problem with express buses is that when poorly planned they become a constant supply and demand problem where local buses get reduced in frequency in favour of express buses running in a rapid pattern. Due to the lack of integrated ticketing and poor planning, this scenario is causing havoc in two major districts of Sydney.

Despite the B-line service, State Transit still operates 16 express buses to the Northern Beaches

The other district is the Northern Beaches. Since the opening of the B-line service, TfNSW was forced to shelve any major changes to the bus network in favour of maintaining the express network (those buses with the ‘E’ designation). The concept of the B-line was initially that passengers would connect with a local bus to the closest B-line stop and then transfer as a normal bus-train or bus-tram connection would operate. Instead express buses continue to operate that neglect other transport services for the sake of keeping the “direct bus” service. Some examples include the E70 to Manly which neglects the ferry service and the E88 and E89 that neglect the B-line.

So how does one fix this recurring issue? It has been fixed before and Canberra did it perfectly. Like Sydney, Canberra had numerous express buses going everywhere branded as Xpresso services, infrequent buses running to as many suburbs as possible with some cross-city routes. Today, only three express buses remain primally due to community resistance and fears of a slower service favouring the freeway.

Rapid wayfinding at Woden Bus Interchange

The concept was simple. Transport Canberra favoured frequent bus corridors in the form of rapid routes. The new system favours a simple numbering system, frequent service frequencies and an overall connected network that favours secant patterns to radical patterns with the compromise of all stop services on some routes.

Rapid buses, Local buses.

Sydney has played its hand before in creating a rapid bus network before (see Metrobus) but TfNSW has somewhat abandoned the project since 2012. Since then TfNSW has failed to get any sort of rapid bus network redesign on the table due to resistance, (again) the Opal fare policy and lack of motivation.

Oh Sydney, don’t you wish your bus network was this easy to remember?

It really is a remarkable thought to see an area where the thought of having a completed railway was only a pipe dream to only reject it ever so swiftly. Reading through the bird site of numerous people reflecting sadness and anger because their express bus route will no longer operate which only gets me thinking what will happen when the second stage of the Metro opens.

This has been the outcome of 20 years of giving passengers what they want, throwing more buses on the same congested routes and now the chickens come home to roost. TfNSW has to now face a preventable problem of finding more compromising solutions and striking a balance on which suburbs have routes going to the city and which do not. Love it or loath it, the government will make the Hills District love the Metro no matter how much they complain.