Making the 887 Service Safe – A Community Lobby
Up to 15 people will begin their journey standing and a dozen more will have joined them by the time the bus passes through Ambarvale, Rosemeadow and Appin. The 887′s ninety minute trip through Appin and along Bulli Pass is now a threat to passenger safety.
Help us fix it.
Greg Schiemer is an Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong and long-time 887 bus patron. Witness to the heavy volume Campbelltown-Wollongong busload and its steady increase over the years, he wants those in authority to address the problem.
Greg and the community at large want change.
Follow us as we engage with major council, university and political players to unburden the 887 overload.
The public need to be aware of the problems they face if they intend commuting between Campbelltown and Wollongong. As a regular commuter on the 887 bus service I have been a patron of Busways since 2004. For more than a decade this company has provided a significant part of our public transport infrastructure with limited subsidy from the public purse.
However the service has declined rapidly over the past year due to increased demand placed on it by students and other commuters who use it on a regular basis. Since early 2009 the number of commuters using the service has risen sharply from the middle of February, due largely to an influx of students travelling to the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra.
The situation appears to have deteriorated further in 2010. This affects not only students but anyone who travels from South West Sydney to the Illawarra whom this service is the only available mode of transport. Until last year the main problem had been the limited number of services, one starting from Campbelltown station in the early morning, another before midday and another in the late afternoon.
The real problem now is that the early bus frequently has as many as 15 to 20 commuters standing as it leaves Campbelltown station. And up to a dozen more join the service in Ambarvale, Rosemeadow and Appin. Many have no option but to stand or squat in aisles or on bus steps for the entire trip.
Getting on the 887 bus has increasingly become a challenge that involves a stampede as people scramble to get a seat. It is only a matter of time before commuters are either injured as they attempt to board or thrown through the front windscreen while the bus is on route. This almost happened in April 2009 when at least 8 or 9 passengers were thrown forward after the driver was forced to brake suddenly in traffic on the Princes Highway. Quick action by the driver caused standing passengers to fall one by one onto the person standing closest to the front who fell on the bus steps instead of hitting the front windscreen.
If people tried to ride on skateboards down Bulli Pass they would be considered reckless; yet they are expected to ride down Bulli Pass standing upright in the aisle of a public bus. A practical solution to the problem is needed to avert a serious bus accident. The 887 run clearly requires an additional service to cope with peak demand.
Concerned residents should immediately contact local councillors and parliamentary representatives. Without the cooperation of these representatives Busways cannot provide the additional service that people of the region now require.
Greg S
General points:
Invest in a double decker bus
Change the route to skip Bulli and surrounding areas thus being a direct Campbelltown to UOW service which would save time creating a more reliable service
Have some sort of queuing system whereby those who arrived the earliest can hop on the bus first rather than missing out on a seat due to inconsiderate people.
Definitely add services especially a later one otherwise it takes me three hours to get home through the governments Cityrail timetables
Start the trip from Liverpool station so those travelling from the South West have a closer point of contact. (Liverpool Station followed by Campbelltown Station than through Rosemeadow, Appin, UOW)
I am in agreement with this post. I think it would suffice if the journey comprised fewer stops, possibly limited to Campbelltown station and Macarthur Square as they are the main stops, and one in Appin, bypassing Rose Meadow and Ambarvale (as well as Bulli – no one ever gets on or off there, it seems). This would dramatically reduce the amount of time spent in transit and would probably entice more people to take advantage of public transport.
I agree Start at liverpool as there is heaps of students. Driving from liverpool to Woolongong as this a growing concern and the number of people driving to UOW is Growing. Traffic is growing in UOW distric there should be a increased public transport to reduce traffic
There should be to be honest a bus from liverpool to sutherland and then direct to woolongong as the population of sydney is growing and the bus services in sydney have not change in the last 30 years to encourage student to dump there cars and use public transport to go to university its not just a problem at woolongong its a problem for students attending every uni there is not adequate transport to all the UWS universities the same problem is for UOW..
It is an absolute disgrace the lack of transport infrastructure between Campbelltown and Wollongong generally. Add into the mix the amount of students that need to travel to Wollongong and UOW regularly from Campbelltown and the South Western Suburbs for the greater part of the year; and what would otherwise be a serious lack of judgement on the part of the NSW Government, becomes a complete and utter joke.
Given it takes 3 hours to travel to Wollongong from Campbelltown by train, as far as I’m concerned there should be at least 6 buses running from Campbelltown to Wollongong a day and the same amount back. Further, during peak periods on weekdays when Uni is in there should be an express bus that travels straight from Campbelltown Station to UOW – not up through Campbelltown, Rosemeadow, Bulli and the Land of Oz. It is clear that there is someone in NSW Transport and Infrastructure that needs to grow a brain.
Having been forced recently by personal circumstances to take the 887 bus from Campbelltown to UOW regularly, I cannot express how appalled I was that the services were so few and far between, that not only was the bus obviously loaded far beyond the capacity for which it was manufactured to safely operate every time I hopped on, but each time it took the exact same ludicrous route. Why take a bus full of what are obviously students and staff of UOW from Campbelltown past Bulli? It’s absurd. Obviously no one has put an ounce of thought into the fact students from Campbelltown need to get to university and given the demographics of Campbelltown would likely need to take public transport.
I feel not only should the NSW Government be embarrassed about this matter but so too should the University. The University refuses to offer even remotely adequate infrastructure in regards to parking given the amount of students that it takes in each year and then completely fails to ensure that there are safe and viable public transport alternatives for the students who would otherwise likely drive. I mean seriously – Mr Grange, Professor Sutton, Mr Albanese – how am I supposed to access my University?
There should be more buses to and from Wollongong from Campbelltown. At the very least there should be an express bus from Campbelltown Station to the University and back during peak periods. There should be a bus that leaves Wollongong via the University 10pm or later at night to allow students to do study and research at Uni outside of regular lecture times and be able to get home without having to travel on a train for three hours. And whoever is currently in charge of determining the frequency and routes of buses from Western Sydney to Wollongong should be sacked. It is as simple as that.
I have never caught a bus so despicably and appallingly crowded. It is a complete shock. As soon as the bus comes to a halt, it is a push-shove-kick-trip rush to the entrance in a vain attempt to acquire one of the very few seats available. The bus stop is completely brimming with people who have no other way to uni/work other than this singular bus. The council MUST introduce a new bus to assist with the progressively increasing crowd of commuters.
A bus from Liverpool station would also prove immeasurably advantagous as a large portion of the university students catching this bus must rush travel in peak morning hours all the way to Campbelltown in order to catch this one and only Woollongong bus.
Furthermore, the trip through Bulli Pass is irrelevant. Next to zero commuters board this bus through the Bulli Pass, and the little amount that do should be provided a local bus, not one which SHOULD be dedicated to the smothering crowds of people who must line up at least an hour in advance to catch the bus from Campbelltown. The trip through the rocky Bulli Pass does not only delay the entire trip, it is also amply dangerous – the bus is carrying an improportionate amount of people and travelling down exceedingly steep hills alongside enormous speeding trucks. If an accident ever occurs, God Forbid, the Council, indeed Busways, will be faced with extensive (and expensive) litigation !
This situation has been ongoing for a long while now. If the council does not respond soon, the situation will blow up further, and become even more complicated. The council should respond to this atrocity NOW.
I used to catch the bus to and from campbelltown station to wollongong uni and return starting in 2005. Something definately needs to be done. I know live in alice springs NT, but returning home to visit family and friends in wollongong seemed like more hassel then it was worth once i boarded the bus.
It was the biggest fight to get on the bus to start with. I initally thought – hang on im a full fare paying commuter – i should get first precedence. however the more i thought about this – the more i realised that someone is not meant to stand for a bus trip that takes over and hour to complete.
busways definately need to issue more buses. if they have the capacity to do this over summer for the beach bus, then why can it not be a continuing initiative. The number of students from the western sydney area attending UOW has been on a steady rise since i started uni in 2005. with the academic standing of the university, the appeal of the university and the ‘ease’ of communicating by bus makes students want to come to UOW. in 2011 i hear that they are not capping positions at UOW therefore the demands will continue to increase. i remember in 2005 people used to have room to sleep on the bus and after an 8hour day at uni – a nap is all we wanted.
due to poor bus times and conflicting class timetable that i had no control over i found myself relying on parents to collect me from uni, relying on friends or finding someones couch to crash on for the night. after 18months of commuting i could not deal with it anymore. if your classes started at 1030 then u needed to get the 704 bus and if you finished at 130pm then it was a 4hour wait for a lift home on the bus. my marks declined and i got home late and then needed to stay up to outrageous hours of the morning to complete work before rising again at 6 to get to the bus on time. i had to move out of home. this is not an easy thing either – as there are 16,000 uni students fighting for housing in the illawarra.
It would be interesting to see how many students are catching the bus to uni even though they drive simply because of parking issues on campus. Also has anyone considered starting posters around campus for car pooling from campbelltown?
good job on finally taking steps to fix these issues! i really do hope that something is done fast!