A chronic bus driver shortage - arguably at its worst in the Hunter and Northern Beaches areas of NSW - has been blamed for cancelled community and school services dating back to the height of the COVID pandemic, as the state government announced a recruitment initiative at the weekend in a move to shore up workforce numbers.
Transport operators have struggled to fill more than 500 vacant driver jobs in Sydney and the wider metropolitan area since the majority of COVID restrictions eased, leading a state taskforce to recommend a series of incentives to recruit new drivers on Saturday, June 3, but the drivers' union has in the past blamed onerous contract conditions held with the government as contributing to the issue leaving Hunter students and commuters stranded.
The Newcastle Herald has been reporting on the driver shortage since 2022, when a group of primary school students were left cut off at their bus stop on the first day of school after Hunter Valley Buses (which, like the city's commuter service run by Kelios Downer, also operates on contracts with the state government) cancelled three services with no notice of replacements.
A state taskforce, established after the Minns Labor government took power in the March state election, released a few key recommendations at the weekend aimed at speeding up and streamlining the driver recruitment process to address the shortage.
The state will waive its $70 application fee for new drivers for the next 12 months, drivers over the age of 25 will be allowed to apply if they have held a current unrestricted Australian driver licence for the last three years, and the state will also cut red tape in the application process in an effort to incentivise new drivers to apply, a NSW Transport statement said at the weekend.
This most recent recruitment drive follows Friday's news that Transport parliamentary secretary Marjorie O'Neill will chair a bus passenger forum in Newcastle on June 23 where passengers can give feedback on routes and services cuts that have followed the privatisation of the region's bus network.
"We know the community has a lot to say about the current state of our bus services and we want to make sure they are part of the decision-making process," Dr O'Neill said.
The Bus Industry Taskforce will also hold an urgent industry roundtable on June 21 where current operators, drivers and industry representatives can suggest solutions to workforce shortages.
The forums and the industry roundtable are expected to play a key role in the taskforce's ongoing work, the government's statement said.
"The shortage of bus drivers has had a massive impact on bus services right across the state. If we can begin to fix the driver shortage, we'll be well on the way to fixing our bus services," NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said at the weekend.
"There are quick and easy immediate actions that we can take right now to recruit more bus drivers.
"The current system needs to be simplified, so we can make it cheaper and easier for aspiring bus drivers to get a job and get on the road."
In March, prior to the state election, the Herald reported that while driver shortages have been undeniable across the state, the drivers' union had complained that the issue was more complicated and blamed onerous state government contract decisions for driving bus operators to make "commercial decisions" to cancel services.
Rail Tram and Bus Union bus division secretary Dave Babineaux told the Herald that all private operators had to meet key performance indicators in their contacts with the state government or face financial penalties for non-compliance.
The union pointed to a failure to police fare evasion at the time that led to a fall in operator revenue well behind actual transport patronage, and called for a return of dedicated transport police to ensure commuters were paying fares and operators were able to meet their KPIs.
Keolis Downer's official patronage has been between 233,000 and 274,000 a month since July 2022, including trips on the city's light rail, the Herald reported in March.
