Brilliant protest !!
On Monday, 20 March 2023 at 14:43:59 UTC+11 Greg Sutherland wrote:
>
> On 20/03/2023 2:19 pm, Tony Galloway wrote:
>
> All aboard the pirate bus
>
>
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/02/mutiny-on-the-sydney-commute-pirate-bus-hits-the-road-after-privatisation-leads-to-axed-routes
>
> Mutiny on the Sydney commute: ‘pirate bus’ hits the road after
> privatisation leads to axed routes
>
> Ken Wilson, whose crowdfunded service was created in frustration, says
> public transport needs to be in public hands
>
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> https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/02/mutiny-on-the-sydney-commute-pirate-bus-hits-the-road-after-privatisation-leads-to-axed-routes#comments
>
> At 8am in south Willoughby in Sydney’s north, Ken Wilson ferries commuters
> on to what appears to be a stock standard bus about to take the roughly
> 12-minute journey into the city.
>
> Except there’s a twist.
>
> The Wednesday service is the first to make the journey in Wilson’s “pirate
> bus” movement, a crowdfunded one-off bus route created in response to
> frustration after privatisation led to cuts to the area’s bus trips.
>
> “It is a bit of a stunt and protest against what the government selling
> off our buses has meant for our community,” says Wilson, dressed in a
> pirate costume with a toy parrot on his shoulder. “It’s also a proof of
> concept on whether we can do this ourselves if the government won’t.”
>
> Across Sydney commuters have become frustrated by bus services plagued by
> delays, cancellations and axed routes.
> Privatisation has failed. Australia needs to ditch the ‘incentives’
> rhetoric and simply spend money on things we need
> Richard Denniss
> Read more
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/25/privatisation-has-failed-australia-needs-to-ditch-the-incentives-rhetoric-and-simply-spend-money-on-things-we-need
>
> Last year the New South Wales
> https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/new-south-wales government
> conducted an inquiry into the privatisation of bus services, finding the
> claim the move would deliver better services to commuters had not come to
> fruition. It found privatisation had led to worse services and recommended
> returning them to public hands.
>
> Transport will be a key issue when voters cast their ballots come late
> March. NSW Labor says
> https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/abject-failure-parliament-committee-want-to-roll-back-sydney-bus-privatisation-20220920-p5bjky.html
> it’s open to bringing services back into public hands once the contracts
> with private companies are up.
> [image: Commuters board the chartered bus]
> Commuters board the chartered bus. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The
> Guardian
>
> But Wilson is taking matters into his own hands. He launched a GoFundMe
> page in December which raised enough to charter its first bus, mirroring
> part of the trip made by the old 272 bus service, at a cost of $420 a trip.
>
> The group plans to run more services each time it raises $420. Commuters
> can ride for free but are encouraged to contribute.
>
> “[Privatisation] can’t keep going, otherwise in a few years we won’t have
> any more buses,” he says.
>
> Several commuters have already moved to use Uber each morning since bus
> routes were axed, Wilson says.
> ‘The difference between getting somewhere on time and not getting there at
> all’
>
> Aboard the bus are passengers who share Wilson’s frustrations. Some are on
> the journey purely in support, others have used the service to get to work.
>
> Robert Samuel, a Willoughby councillor, is catching the bus to the city on
> the way to a meeting in Bondi.
>
> “I’m going to Bondi, but not on the 340 like I should be because it’s
> cancelled,” he says, referring to one of a number of routes that has been
> canned in the aftermath of privatisation.
> [image: Eden Taylor (left)]
> Eben Taylor says his bus is ‘supposed to come every 10 minutes, but then
> suddenly it can be every 20 or 30 minutes’. Photograph: Blake
> Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian
>
> Eben Taylor is sitting near the back of the bus, talking to his friend
> Umaima Patni, also both dressed in pirate costumes, as the bus barrels
> across Sydney Harbour Bridge. He is a student at University of Sydney and
> says it’s not unusual to watch two 120 buses fly past his stop during rush
> hour because they are too full to take on more passengers.
>
> “It’s supposed to come every 10 minutes but then suddenly it can be every
> 20 or 30 minutes,” he says. “It’s the difference between getting
> somewhere on time and not getting there at all."
>
>