Watkins misses the bus

For crying out loud, do they have anyone with any brains at the SMH? They ran a story about bus numbers today without even considering one obvious factor - the number of buses that are retired from the fleet each year.

I think there is a rule somewhere that the bus operators are not allowed to let the average age of their fleet get older than 10 years. In order to do that, you need to keep a constant stream of new buses coming on line, and get rid of the old ones as well. I think a pile of old ones were donated to East Timor not long ago, and they found that they were too big for the local roads. After going to great expense to transport them up there, they've been sitting idle gathering rust ever since.

The Minister can talk all he likes about buying new buses, but he's being disingenuous if he fails to mention the number that are being put out to pasture. If the number of new buses is not greater than the number of exited buses, then the fleet is shrinking. Simple. Even I can do an equation along the lines of 10+5-6 = 9.

If you are worried about being busted about the fleet getting smaller, then the ideal antidote is to talk about seat numbers. I have a feeling that the new buses are longer and thus hold more seats, so you could have a smaller fleet with more seats. But a smaller fleet means you have to run fewer services, and if my experience is any guide, those services will be slower with big buses than small. That's because they take longer to steer around corners, and if you have a route like mine with lots and lots and lots and lots of corners, the trip home becomes bloody endless.

I imagine the Minister has also tried the old wheeze of fiddling with the year in which buses are delivered. You might make one announcement based on say 2006 (Jan-Dec) and then make the next announcement based on the 2006-2007 financial year (July 2006 - June 2007). There are endless ways to screw with the numbers.

All I know is this. By the time my bus gets to Parramatta Rd, which is about halfway along its route, it is generally full. The driver will go blasting past stops that are packed with potential passengers because the bus is already bulging. I am thankful that I live near the start of the run, so I can always get a seat. But you wouldn't want to live near the Annandale Hotel.