“This is welcome news, but the tender process should have begun the moment the bendy buses came off the road, not half a year later after my commuters experienced some of the worst commuting conditions seen in 10 years,” Mr Griffin said.
The Northern Beaches bus region, known as Region 8, was hit hardest following the temporary removal of 83 Volvo articulated buses in October 2024 due to safety concerns after cracking had been found in their chassis. More than half of these buses normally operate in Region 8.
“Not many people remember how bad things were before the B-Line was delivered but this comes pretty close.
“I’ll be monitoring the process closely to ensure the buses are delivered and the service improves. There is still more work to do but at least the Government has heard our concerns”, Mr Griffin said.
The Government has announced that these new buses are expected to roll out and enter service towards the end of 2025.
Their procurement will improve reliability on the B-Line and increase capacity across the Northern Beaches, North Shore and the wider network.
Repairs to the first six existing articulated buses are currently underway and are forecast to return to service from April 2025. Transport is currently working to deliver a repair program for the remaining articulated buses for a staged return to service over 2025.
Pressure on northern beaches key routes is expected to ease over the coming months as the repaired articulated buses begin to return to service.
During this challenging period Transport is also improving support at key locations like Dee Why and Wynyard to assist with bus loadings and passenger communications. Transport has also worked with the operator to mitigate the impact on passengers, including measures to protect priority services from cancellations like dedicated school services, other trips carrying high numbers of students, minimising consecutive cancellations and first and last services of the day.
The procurement of these new high-capacity buses are in addition to the new standard size Zero Emission Buses (ZEB) delivered by the former Coalition Government, that will begin entering service at Brookvale Depot over the next 12 months. This will enable Transport to deliver more and improved bus services in Region 8, Region 14 and across the wider network. As more buses are added to the network, Transport will progressively work towards the restoration of the full timetable.
Significant progress has been made to address the bus driver shortage that is especially acute across the North Shore and beaches regions. There are currently 154 driver vacancies across metropolitan Sydney as of 3 March 2025, down from more than 500 in April 2023.
Transport is also investing in future high capacity zero emission buses which are in the early stages of development. Transport has ordered four articulated ZEBs to test and trial for suitability in Sydney conditions.
Last modified: April 22, 2025
