U-Go Mobility takes on 'surprising' extra role over the holiday period

Mr Mitsios observed that, while the Bankstown train line is shut down over the holiday period, many of the replacement buses are provided by U-Go Mobility.

His workplace is next to Sydenham station on Railway Parade, which is also a temporary bus parking area.

"I notice that at times, four out of the five buses waiting here are U-Go buses," he said.

"I wonder how U-Go could possibly manage to take on this extra job, considering that they are not fulfilling their normal timetables?

"Indeed, they are still dropping rounds on their normal services. I personally am only affected by the 947 (Hurstville-Kogarah) route.

"Whenever I have enquired about this problem, I have been told that it is because of a lack of drivers, which is somewhat bemusing considering the fact that they are doing the Sydney Trains run from Sydenham to Bankstown."

A Transport for NSW spokesman said U-Go Mobility was one of multiple operators providing replacement buses during the T3 Line shutdown.

"During the school holidays, U-Go's buses that are used for dedicated school trips are able to be used more frequently for the T3 Temporary Transport Plan," he said.

"The exact number of buses from each operator changes each day, depending on the requirements of the public transport network."

The spokesman said the U-Go buses supporting the temporary transport arrangements were provided separately to regular route services.

"To bid for Temporary Transport Plan contacts, an operator must show they will continue to meet their existing obligations with TfNSW," he said.

"As always, we continue to monitor the network and will make changes to ensure regular route services are not disrupted."

The spokesman said U-Go's service delivery performance in Region 10 (St George and the shire) had "stabilised" and, overall, was "delivering reliably against an adjusted timetable".

"Cancellation rates have been close to target since the end of September 2023, along with on time running performance," he said.

"U-Go Mobility continues to work closely with TfNSW to address all customer feedback through focused investigations and/or performance management of staff and detailed responses to passengers.

"While driver shortages remain a key challenge across the entire Greater Sydney Bus network, U-Go Mobility has made good progress in reducing the driver vacancy rate with a variance of 35 vacancies compared to the number of drivers required to deliver the full operational timetable.

"A full timetable with zero suspended services is targeted for the first half of 2024."

U-Go Mobility was contacted for comment.