NAROOMA resident Ben Bewick is just one of many who will be inconvenienced by Eurobodalla coach company Priors’ decision last week to suspend its 20-year-old service between Moruya, the Southern Highlands and Sydney.
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The bus service is claiming a lack of State Government support forced it to end the popular “Scenic Express” bus route.
The service was suspended last Wednesday, to the regret of long-term customers such Ben, who regularly travels up to Sydney for treatment for his medical condition.
The 30 year old suffers from a condition similar to multiple sclerosis and has travelled to southwest Sydney for medical treatment and to visit family for more than 15 years.
He can catch the Premier bus service but that only travels to central Sydney, usually arriving at rush hour.
“Once I get to Central, it is at least another hour on the train to get back down to where I need to go,” Ben said.
Priors’ service to Narooma ended some time ago, forcing local passengers to travel up to Moruya to catch the bus.
But now with the service totally suspended, he is hopeful that funding can be found to get it back and running at least once a week.
The bus company says the decision to suspend the service was forced upon it by lack of government support.
“There does not appear to be any government policy which encourages the development of long-distance coach services in regional NSW,” Priors CEO Paul Gilligan said.
“This was also the case when the Labor Party was in government.
“While we have suspended our service, we are not deserting our customers, and I will be making representations on their behalf.
“A long-distance coach service to the Southern Highlands and Greater Sydney was necessary in 1995 and still is.”
Mr Gilligan said the service provided an important connection to the Southern Highlands and Greater Sydney.
“Our service has never operated with a subsidy from the NSW Government and has employed three coach drivers, who fulfilled a valuable service in catering to people who really had no suitable alternative,” he said.
The Narooma News contacted local member and Transport Minister Andrew Constance about the issue, receiving a response instead from Transport for NSW.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said Priors Bus Services was not regulated or operated under a contract with Transport for NSW for the privately run Eurobodalla to Western Sydney service.
Prior Bus Services informed Transport for NSW that they had made a commercial decision to suspend this service as it was no longer financially viable, they said.
The government owned NSW TrainLink provides coach services in south eastern NSW that connect to major train and bus services in Canberra and Sydney. From here customers can easily connect to trains and buses that travel to Western Sydney, they said.
For more information on train and bus services provided by NSW TrainLink go to http://www.nswtrainlink.info/ or call 13 22 32.