It Appears That Transport For NSW May Be Looking To Upgrade Mount Druitt Train Station....

The other week I spotted  two NSW for Transport officers at Mount Druitt train station checking out the train station and taking down details of the current train station.

They could have been engineers: One man was doing the measuring and description, whilst the other young man had a PC tablet and was being a 'walking secretary' as he was just typing up what ever the the man suggested.

Do you think it would be  good to  have Mount Druitt train station upgraded and updated?

Blacktown City Council Is Selling Land In front Of Bus Stops......

There is a political debate within Blacktown City Council local government area to sell pockets of vacant unused land, which is generally not used by the public, although is is used for access for the public, to be used personally as an exercise, short cut to access different streets and properties in the area.

There is only one pocket of land that Council is seeking to sell, which I think  is good for them to receive funds that I am aware of - I cannot speak for other pockets of land. Yet although this is used as a short cut to get to and from the bus stop, there are plans to close the lane-ways in-between houses in the area, which would benefit the purchaser.

The only negative aspect is there is a road overpass in front of it and vehicles can check the property out, even if  single or median dwellings are constructed for residential in the future.

This is the bus stop on the corner of Bulolo Road and Ellengowan Crescent, Whalan.

Here it is:

Add caption

Commuters In Mount Druitt Use Public Transport Buses To Do.....

Yes there are many things commuters do on public transport  that assists themselves with their daily lives. 

What I sometimes do discretely and secretly is comb my hair. Here is a commuter doing make up on a bus. Usually, I see this being done on train carriages.

Sydney Trains Transport Offier Gets Home Later With Buses In Mount Druitt!

There seems to be  missing buses on the 780 Busways  Timetable.
This has been provided to myself by a Transport Officer that works on Sydney Trains, does shift work and  used to get home early.

He was able to get a Busways bus service at around 10.30pm and now this bus service has been deleted/removed from the previous timetable. So we were told almost 12 months ago - no timetables will change, in fact there will be  more bus services - when Busways take over the complete NSW Bus Region 1, yet we have  a  bus service that has dropped from a half an hour service to an hourly service after about 9am.

So going forward  bus services are not catering for commuters that work late or come back from visiting late, we are now down to a hourly services after 9am, where it was a  half- hour bus service to a half-hourly.

What do you think about this?

Click Here for the Busways 780 Timetable

Blacktown City Council Invites Public Transport Issues to be Registered on Council's Website

Blacktown City Council is working with commuters, to try to be the 'Cog in the Wheel' and motivated important changes to public transport.

This is a new innovation which has implemented under their websites  dropdown box of  'Visiting Our City' and then Trans and Access around your city:

Click to Register You Public Transport Issue/Forum

Let us know if it is useful and  what response have you had from Council. This is important for all of us to fill in and return to them - hopefully a response will come!

Bus Shelter Disappears In Whalan - We Seek Answers!

Last weekend Anne, Vice-President of Mount  Druitt Commuters Improvement Group Inc. contacted myself and notified of the missing 'Bus Stop' at the corner of Waikanda Crescent and Luxford Roads Whalan.

This  is not the first time people of Mount Druitt have been taken away certain  Bus Shelter within the area of Mount Druitt ( refer to previous blogs).

Here is the previous blog on the bus stop at the corner of Waikanda Crescent and Luxford Roads Whalan:

http://mountdruittcommuters.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/bus-stop-2770194-needs-concrete-slab-to.html

And here are 2 ladies on last Sunday, using the shade of the tree 20-30 minutes up the road, whilst Blacktown City Council and Busways removed the shelter for no reason!

Click Here The Missing Bus Stop Video

Also find a video, where there is a young mother and her young baby, unable to shade the shade of the bus shelter and an elderly lady who can't sit down, standing with a cane, painfully.

And here is 2 ladies using the shade of the tree about 20 - 30 metres away from  where the bus stop is(they are in the  middle of the photo). This was an extremely hot day.

We do not want people to suffer when there  a bus shelter required and then removed.

No 'Shitty Trains' Required In Afternoon!

The other day I spoke to Santiago from Oakhurst, travels  by car to Mount Druitt Commuters Car Park and then by Sydney Trains to North Sydney.

'Shitty Trains' are available in summer on  very hot days and they are not comfortable journey's. This is caused by by 'stinky people' that don't look after their body odor  which affects his nose  (which is sensitive to smelling).

The morning train services are provided with new train carriages, with older train carriages in the afternoon, this is when he  tends to suffer with this condition - when you get a sudden putrid smell, this can cause further stress from the work you have carried out during the day as the train carriage becomes  uncomfortable, hot sweating & sticky.  

What is required is newer train services in the afternoon, which is important, with air circulating with air conditioning, rather than open windows bringing heat all throughout the journey, it makes you more refreshing especially if you are going to meet someone or  meeting more people!

Check out website for 'Shitty Rail'

Imagine If We Had 'Turn Up & Go Buses' In Mount Druitt?

Mount Druitt commuters how you you feel - if we had 'Turn up & Go Buses!' Well that is what is supposed to happen but as we  know, sometimes buses take time as commuters are preparing themselves to pay for fares and/or place prams in prams (inside the bus). Also ensuring little or no late or early running bus services.

Check this initiative from the NSW Government:

Future of Sydney Buses 'Turn Up & GO!'

Tell us your thoughts, especially we we do get 'Turn Up & Go Buses!'

NSW BUS REGION 1 - 'ON-TIME' BUS Services - ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THEM?

Here is a blog on Sydney Bus Region Bus services including Bus Region 1. It would be interesting if you provide some  feedback to us to let us know how you are going with your own time- tabled services. As you are the customer, commuter using these services, all comments appreciated!


Click Here for Sydney Bus Regions 'On Time' Bus Running Services

Busways Bus Service 674 Went Off-Track - Who Needs Training?

Imagine that you travel on your bus route and then you notice that the bus driver accidently over passes a turn to travel on the correct route. Well we know that everyone is not perfect and we all make mistakes but how does this happen when the bus driver was a training bus driver and had a trainer on the bus?

Personally, I can not answer this question bua female commuter from Whalan explained that a few weeks ago, it did happen as the bus was heading into Mount Druitt and as it past the the old Whalan High School. Somehow the bus turned around to head back into Gasmatta Crescent, Whalan to return to it's original journey!

So who needs the training?

New Time Tables Not Working For Busways - Solution Provided!

I have just recently heard from a transport spokesperson that Busways  bus drivers are finding it difficult to run to the new October 2013 time tables.

Basic reasons for this to occur, is  late running services and this is caused by many reasons: bus drivers not provided with a proper rest at the end of each trip,  commuters complaining, and also not having the right amount of fares and undeciding of whether they have to get on bus or not.

Keeping in mind these issues and remembering (from previous blogs) that bus drivers are allowed 30 seconds to pick up and drop at each bus  stop. If this time is over the time limit, it extends the time of the journey. This results in bus services not meeting with interchange timetables for other buses or any Sydney Trains. So Busways are  looking at contingency plans to counter this time table issue they are having. This is a  major KPI* on maintaining the contracts on NSW Bus Region 1 for the next 3-5 years.

Solution for this is very easy, in my aspect. When timetables are issued, they should be issued with a flexibility of times of arrival and depart. What does this mean, some of you are saying?

Well, up to now, NSW for Transport in the past have been providing timetables which commuters expect to be exact timetables, especially based on their  planned journey for the day. By allowing  say for example a '5 minutes flexibility time table' that means services can arrive 5 minutes before or after the designated 'Flexible Timetabled' times. Normally, commuters will arrive minutes before or just as the service is arriving.

By doing this, it takes off the pressure off from bus drivers, Management of Busways, NSW for Transport and there would need to be an educational process to be provided to each commuter (which will also result in less complaints) to worry about being late or early by 5 minutes! Commuters will need to have a better understanding rather than getting frustrated waiting for services.

The other suggestion, would be heading to the right way, providing extra bus services cutting down the waiting time and in itself promoting more people to become commuters, catching public transport buses!

What do think? It is a positive way of fixing Busways dilemma at the moment? Let us know your thoughts, ideas or feedback - this is important for everyone!

*Key Performance Indicator

Garbages Required For Sydney Trains

Jess from Kingswood travels from Kingswood to Parramatta on Sydney trains for study  and uses public transport to Blacktown and Glenwood.

For personal reasons he suggests that rubbish cans and food for eating should be thrown in garbages situated in train stations and inside train carriages. Cleanliness is a good thing. From a medical point of view every commuter should also be allowed to wash hands after eating and keep things clean - like most people do at home!

One very important fact for Sydney Trains, is that public transport security with using measures like cameras, is pretty much unheard of in India for their railways. These positive security measures are  great to the  Sydney Trains network!

More Security To Feel More Secure -Mount Druitt Commuter!

Just over a week ago Shireen from Mount Druitt travels from Mount Druitt to Parramatta and return using Sydney Trains.

Requires more security sometime to feel more secure anytime. There should be more security  patrolling more trains in each way  Shireen travels on trains. Would like to them patrolling at least 3 times per week: this would mean less hurt to people travelling at commuters and more people would be  encouraged to  catch more trains, therefor leaving less cars on the road.

Mount Druitt Bus - Spread 'Happy Christmas Cheers'

Decorated buses spread Christmas joy

• RYAN LIPMAN
• MT DRUITT-ST MARYS STANDARD
• DECEMBER 03, 2013 1:30PM

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Busway driver Terry Hession has organised to decorate a number Christmas buses. Source: News Limited

TERRY Hession and his fellow Busway drivers are spreading the Christmas cheer around Mt Druitt with customised Christmas buses.

For the five weeks before Christmas, four buses are dressed up with Christmas decorations - three have lights and two even have Christmas trees.

Terry Hession with his Christmas-themed decorated bus. Source: News Limited

About eight years ago, Mr Hession, of St Clair, came up with the idea.

"I was feeling a bit down and out so I approached the manager about decorating the bus for Christmas and it's grown from there," Mr Hession said.

Three years later he decided the decorated buses would be ideal for collecting money at Nepean Hospital's children's ward.

This year Mr Hession said he hoped the buses raised about $1000. "Anything we give them (the children's ward) is more than they had," he said.

Mr Hession said passengers also got a buzz out of riding the decorated buses.

"You get a lot of people that get on and take photos with their mobiles," he said.

"They have bit of a laugh - young people and the elderly get the biggest enjoyment and kid's eyes light up when hey get one."

Despite the success of the decorated buses, Mr Hession said he had not gone as far as dressing up as Santa.

"I think it's too hot for a big red suit day in, day out," he said.