Australia: Bus system heading for a crash

BUSES have quietly plied their way around the leafy northern suburbs of Sydney without too much trouble for the past two decades. But that is set to change drastically if petrol prices continue to rise, according to an alarming new report by the University of Sydney.

In a worst-case scenario, where the price of petrol soars by $1 per litre each year to 2017, the number of people trying to climb aboard a Forest Coach Lines bus between St Ives and the city would climb 1600 per cent.


Instead of carrying about 1500 commuters in the morning peak each day, the buses would have to transport more than 24,000 – an almost impossible task. While Forest currently has 70 buses in service, it would need 480 vehicles for this route alone.

Even a more modest 25-cent-a-litre annual increase would see the number of commuters leap to more than 8600.

A rail or metro line is the only realistic way of transporting this many passengers.

There are huge tracts of Sydney that have vastly inadequate public transport and could suffer even worse consequences. The report focuses on routes serviced by Forest, but its implications are dire for a city dependent on private vehicles.

Sydney Morning Herald