WITH rising petrol prices, commuters are dumping their cars and flocking to the 1000 buses plying the north-west. But many buses are past their use-by date of 12 years, raising serious safety concerns.
``I can confirm that many of the buses in use across NSW would have an age of 20 years if not older,'' said Hawkesbury MP Ray Williams, who formerly worked in the bus industry.
``Requirements are that the fleet age in NSW be no more than 12 years but many, whether government or private, are either in excess of or bordering on this 12-year age, raising serious safety concerns.''
State Transit chief Peter Rowley confirmed the average age of the STA fleet in January 2008 was 13.25 years.
``We're in the midst of rolling out 505 new diesel and gas buses at a cost of $250 million,'' he said. ``The combination of new buses and the gradual retirement of our older buses will see the average age of our fleet come down over time to our target of 12 years.''
Earlier this month Transport Minister John Watkins noted that buses carry the equivalent number of passengers as trains, with 235,000 passengers travelling on buses to and from the Sydney CBD daily.
Mr Williams said approximately 9000 government and private buses operate across NSW with the State Government responsible for providing all buses to companies.
``The 12-year-old fleet age is assessed on all buses within a fleet at the one depot. For every 20-year-old bus, you need one new bus every year just to get the fleet average age to 10,'' Mr Williams said. ``Two 20-year-old buses and one new bus give you an average fleet age of 13 which is illegal.''
With new buses costing from $450,000 for low-floor buses to $550,000 for ``bendy'' buses, the State Government has an expensive commitment to deal with.
Earlier this month, Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said the state transit fleet would not grow ``by a single extra bus'' under the new budget and only the oldest buses due for retirement would be replaced.
``This budget offers no relief for commuters who are forced to use Sydney's overcrowded, outdated and unreliable transport system,'' he said.
``Despite claiming last week that 150 extra buses will be provided as part of an urgent order to cope with growing demand because of rising petrol prices the budget reveals only $100,000 in funding to meet that objective not enough to purchase one extra bus.''
Hillsbus boss Owen Eckford said 200 new buses had been added to the fleet in the last two years.
``On the M2 fleet servicing the city, the majority are very new buses,'' he said.``Because of the influx of new buses, our average is getting very close to the 12 years in Sydney.
``There are still some older buses around but we don't use them on the city services, in particular because of the speeds they travel.''