City buses have another word for system – chaos.

I know we're meant to allow for time tables delays on our bus route, but for the 501, bus delays are the ordinary. Unlike other city-bound buses that come regularly, and allow people to hop on any bus that goes that way - the 501 is the ONLY bus that goes to Pyrmont/Ultimo. Yet, we have to put up with multiple disruptions, ultra-frequent delays, over-crowded buses - or buses that just don't even come at all.

Why can't NSW State Government get their act together and deliver this service so it's as frequent and reliable as the 510?! Why is it that if you're at the bus stop at 8am - you have to wait up to 20 minutes for a bus to come despite their timetable (both printed and online - which you can never trust); saying otherwise? And why is it, that when they do arrive, they're two at a time. Why?! That doesn’t even make sense to the logic-impaired! One bus waits behind the other, so they both arrive at the destination at the same time. It will make more sense to have these staggered - to fill up that 20 minutes of frustration fuelled void of doing nothing while five 510s pass you by.

Let me relay this other delay that occurred last week. I walked home from Pyrmont - near the casino. On my way to the ANZAC bridge, I saw people I usually catch the bus home with leave their office at around 5.30. On my walk, I scanned the traffic to see the 501. I usually do this because sometimes I think it's quicker to just walk home, or to catch another 500 bus from the city, than it is to actually wait for the 501 bus to show up. I was on the IRON COVE BRIDGE when I saw the first 501 bus arrive; followed immediately by another, and then by two others. This is shocking. This occurs too frequently for us to consider it a one-off. A couple of days before that, a grandmother was swearing her head off at passing 443 buses because the 501 was incapable of arriving on time - just to take this elderly woman to the next suburb. I can't believe it's impossible to manage this route.

We have no other alternative but to catch this bus - we cannot bus hop on this route. We can't do anything but play a game of chance to stay and have faith that a bloody bus will arrive when it says so ,or to walk to the next suburb to catch another 500 bus home or to work. This is an issue that I’m - and a lot of other people - will take to the polls next election. It doesn't take a genius to get buses to run on time - only incompetence, which this 'system' is surely lacking in abundance!

Just for cathartic therapy - and a hope that other people will vent their frustration with me, I'm going to keep this blog and document every instance that the 501 bus just doesn't deliver.