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The 78 bus shuttle service which operated between the Wellington Bus Station, the Busport and the University was born out of the parking problems that have plagued the UWA campus for some time.
In early 1993 those affected by the university's parking situation formed a discussion group and the local councils, residents and shop owners along with Ministry of Transport, student and university representatives met to find strategies to reduce the number of cars coming to the university.
Provision of more parking bays was in no way a solution to the problems. The university presently has a policy that the number of parking bays will not exceed between 3000 to 4000 and no multi-story car parking will be constructed. A decision was made to work towards improved bus services, introducing a ferry service and car pooling. The ferry service lasted for the first six months of 1994 but became commercially non-viable after the contracted operator went bankrupt in April because of other factors. The university supported the service until June, and in the concluding months the subsidy was up to $4000 a week.
Unlike the ferry service which, although good in theory, had a number of operational problems, the 78 bus service was successful. The University negotiated a 32 week contract with Transperth to the value of $85 000 in late 1993.
The 78 service was unique in that it enabled students travelling via the city to uni to transfer easily whether they came by bus or train. The frequency of services to the university was increased. The 78 covered the needs of students and staff to the extent that the small number 77 and 74 service timetabled from St George's Terrace through the Busport were amalgamated into the 78 service. The patronage on the 78 increased by 20% over 1994 carrying over 700 passengers each way a day.
The effect of the service on the campus and the surrounding suburbs was great with complaints from local councils and the local community reduced from 3 to 5 a week to close to nil for the year. The number of cars on campus were also reduced, the original intention of introducing the 78. The environment would also have also benefited from the reduction of car use around the university.
The success of the service led to quotes being sought for it to be re-implemented in 1995. Quotes from other providers for a similar service were more than double that of Transperth, which quoted the same cost as 1994 at $85,000. In addition to the 1994 services, this year's quote included the service during study breaks, public holidays and the week prior to the beginning of the academic year. The Parking and Security Committee met on November 25th, concluded the service had been successful and recommended that it continue in 1995.
The University authorities did not take up the recommendation to continue subsidising the service.
The staff and students have experienced difficulty and time has been lost commuting through the city either on foot or in trying to catch connecting buses, i.e. the 185 and 881 from Wellington Street Bus Station. Some of Metrobus' suggested connections are only a minute apart. Is it physically possible to change Busport platforms in 60 seconds? A letter to the Guild President from the mother of a first year student illustrates this.
At present my daughter is having to leave home 30 minutes earlier as
she has to wait for the 185 ... as the 185 pulls into the Busport the
connecting bus pulls out, so there is yet another wait for the next one.
She also tells me that:
"There was such a huge crowd of students waiting for the bus in the
Busport, that people getting off of the escalators were having to
forcibly elbow their way through the mass, otherwise they would have
been knocked over by others coming down behind them!"
The services between UWA and the Busport are now overcrowded at many times during the day. This raises questions over the safety for all passengers. The 71, 72 and 73 services are now forced to carry the extra 700 passengers each way who could have been on the 78 service.
The difficulties presently being experienced were noted by those travelling by bus to the Uni. In the second week of the semester a group of students started a petition to get the service reinstated, collecting signatures from 7am to 6pm, by the end of that week having over 2300 signatures.
Metrobus introduced extra services to and from the Busport relieve the situation. An extra articulated bus and driver were on stand-by by since Tuesday of the second week of semester and drivers had been extremely helpful in relieving the problem. One driver finished his shift at 2.30pm and volunteered to take a bus, without pay, and operate a shuttle from the Busport to UWA to clear queues.
Guild President Nat Curling, Student Senate Representative James Fogarty and Student Chris Loader met with Vice-Chancellor Fay Gayle on Friday March 10th to present the petition and explain the human impact of the loss of the service. The Vice-Chancellor was reportedly receptive to the issue and had arranged a meeting with the Minister for Transport, Eric Charlton to discuss the problem. The petition was presented the Minister's office on the 13th of March.