No Wonder Busways Has Not Got 100% Airconditioned Buses..... 'whyilovemountdruitt' Face Book Group

Lester from  a member of 'whyilovemountdruitt'  Face book Page has produced a researched report that confirms that 166 buses are not air-conditioned within NSW. Now with this fact coming through, we need  Blacktown City Council Councillors, Transport Department, NSW Members for Mount Druitt, Londonderry and Mulgoa to actively raise this issue in NSW State Parliament and  sent shock waves to Busways  and NSW IPART as we are all paying full fares, when we haven't got the right amount of buses that make our commuters travel comfortably.

 Until we have got the justified amount of buses air-conditioned (being 100%) NSW IPART should  review fares within Mount Druitt and NSW Bus Region 1. Taxis are provided fully air-conditioned, so why not other public transport vehicles?


Here is Lester's Report:

perusal of the Busways fleet on the Bus Australia website reveals that Busways has 768 buses spread over 17 depots in NSW.
Of those 768 buses, 602 have air conditioning and 166 are not air conditioned. The arrival of 18 new buses last year with fleet numbers in the 1200 series have enabled the withdrawal of some of the older non-air conditioned fleet.

The 166 non-air conditioned fleet consists of:
159 Mercedes Benz 0405
3 Mercedes Benz 0405NH (low floor)
3 MAN 16.240
1 MAN 18.260
These buses are allocated mainly to the 3 Sydney depots (Blacktown, Mulgrave, Penrith) and the 2 Central Coast depots (Gosford, Wyong) with a small number amongst the 11 North Coast depots allocated to school runs.
The majority of the air-conditioned buses came with the takeover of King Brothers Port Macquarie which operated the 11 North Coast depots. Further air conditioned buses were inherited from Westbus in 2014 with the new Region One contracts.
Busways founder, Dick Rowe, resisted having air conditioned and low floor buses for a long time. However, in 2005 as a result of the Unsworth review, the State Government took ownership of all bus routes in NSW. The existing bus companies including the Government owned State Transit became contractors to the Government with the Department of Transport, now Transport for NSW, becoming the regulator setting fares and service standards.
One benefit of the Government takeover was air conditioned low floor buses became mandatory for new buses. Dick Rowe had no choice if he wanted to retain his contracts. The first new air conditioned low floor buses arrived in the Busways fleet in 2007 first in White and after 2011 in Blue and White.
The current bus allocation of the Busways fleet is:
Sydney Depots
Blacktown - 147
Mulgrave - 62
Penrith - 104
Pymble Head Office - 2
Central Coast Depots
Gosford - 107
Wyong - 62
North Coast Depots
Bulahdelah - 23
Coffs Harbour - 31
Grafton - 25
Heatherbrae - 21
Kempsey - 22
Laurieton - 28
Macksville - 25
Port Macquarie - 56
Raleigh - 15
Wauchope- 19
Yamba - 19

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