The Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle - Hamilton

The Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle 

Hamilton Station, 6 January 2015

Bus drivers on the new Baird-Berejiklian Hamilton-Newcastle shuttle bus service are having to perform dangerous and illegal manoeuvres around Hamilton station, while police turn a blind eye, according to rail campaigners who observed the second morning of the Hamilton shuttle operation today.

Early danger spots of the Baird-Berejiklian Shonky Shuttle Shemozzle

Obvious danger points at the intersections of Beaumont and Fern Streets, and Beaumont St and Maitland Rd demonstrate that the Baird-Berejiklian shuttle is as unworkable as rail campaigners predicted it would be.

As the pictures below show, shuttle buses are continually having to stack illegally at the northern Beaumont St stand between Fern St and the rail line.

Rear of illegally stacked bus (No Stopping sign is to the left of the tree)

This stand has insufficient room to accommodate more than one bus, forcing the rear of the second bus to protrude well beyond the “No Stopping” sign near the Fern St corner.

Rear of another illegally stacked bus

This creates a highly dangerous visual obstruction for drivers of vehicles turning right from Fern St into Beaumont St or crossing Beaumont St to continue along Fern St. 

These drivers can’t see northbound traffic on Beaumont St until they are into the intersection, and their view of southbound traffic is also frequently obscured by stand-by buses parked beyond the new bus zone between Fern St and Maitland Rd.

And yet another...

Police at the scene were alerted to the illegal bus stacking but took no apparent action (they appeared to be devoting most of their time to apprehending fare evaders).

Shuttle buses having to negotiate the acute left turn from Maitland Rd into Beaumont St are forced either to turn wide from the right hand lane in Maitland Rd (cutting dangerously across the left lane), or to turn from the left lane and risk the front of the bus sweeping across the double dividing line into oncoming Beaumont St traffic or take the turn tightly and climb the inside curb. 

The front of stand-by buses parked in Fern St were also parked beyond the legal parking area into the No Stopping zone near the intersection.

It’s not fair on either these bus drivers or on other affected drivers placed in danger by the incompetence of the Baird-Berejiklian shuttle shemozzle.

The government was warned about these problems well before the Boxing Day closure of the rail service, but has done nothing to prevent them in its headlong rush to cut the Newcastle rail line.

No wonder state government officers haven’t yet been prepared to brief Newcastle Councillors on what they were planning, despite the call by the council for an urgent briefing on the new traffic arrangements six weeks ago (on 25 November last year).

AFTERNOON UPDATE:

The illegal shuttle parking is also happening on the other (southern) shuttle stand, between the rail line and Hudson St, as the photo below shows.

The second (nearest) bus is parked across the entrance to the Hamilton Station car park (the sign near where the passenger is alighting from the middle door of the nearest bus is the No Standing sign).

As the next photo shows, up to three buses were observed to stack at this stand. The photo below shows the second and third buses lined up, with the second bus across the carpark entrance and the third bus extending nearly to the rail gates themselves.

Before this system was put into place, the Beaumont St crossing was officially rated as the third most dangerous level rail crossing in NSW.

As far as we are aware, no risk assessment has been undertaken taking into account the changed traffic conditions.

No expense or time has been spared to cut the rail line, but developing a safe, viable replacement service is obviously not a priority for the Baird government, which has treated the Newcastle community with contempt throughout their handling of this issue.

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