LATE for school, work and cancelling time with friends is becoming a constant headache for public transport user Bailey Stone.
The year 12 Hunter School of the Performing Arts (HSPA) student relies heavily on buses to get him to and from school, work and recreation around Newcastle.
The 17-year-old is in the process of getting his licence and his mum works long hours, so he has been forced to use public transport consistently for the past six years.
But he says services are being cancelled more than usual and relying on public transport has become "too unreliable".
"For the most part it's been alright, like the really the first three or four years were pretty reliable but since I've started catching this specific bus, it's been more unreliable every time," he said.
"It started off with a few times cancelled each month which is kind of understandable, but then now it's more consistent - once or twice a week."
Bailey catches the route 25 bus from Charlestown to Broadmeadow. It's scheduled to leave his bus stop at 7.26am each morning and is a 30 minute commute to school.
"I get to school quite early. I'm almost operating an hour earlier than I need to just for the security of getting to places on time," he said.
He said there have been instances where he is left waiting at his stop only to get a notification on the travel app informing him of cancellations when it's already too late.
"Normally they come when I'm already at the bus stop and it's already like five or ten minutes late. It's happened to me before where I've just been waiting for it to show up and it doesn't and it's just annoying," he said.
Bailey said he has sent complaints to Newcastle Transport and Keolis Downer bus company which he says have responded with minimal empathy.
"To me it seemed like they just sent back the copy, paste sorry for the inconvenience blah kind of response," he said.
In a response to the Newcastle Herald, Keolis Downer apologised and said their priority is getting students to and from school safely and reliably.
"We apologise for the student's recent experience on board the route 25," a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said bus services have been subject to cancellations due to the state-wide bus driver shortage since 2022.
"Services are most affected during peak periods when we operate increased regular route services as well as 140 dedicated school services in the morning and the afternoon," they said.
"Our priority is making sure all school services operate each day, which may result in the cancellation of regular route services, such as the route 25, inadvertently impacting some students."
"As soon as we are aware of any impact to services, the Newcastle Transport team informs customers with as much notice as possible of any cancellations via Trip Planner and travel apps."
Bailey's transport woes have had an effect on his education, leaving him late for exams and racking up unnecessary costs of booking an alternative, emergency transport.
"If the bus is cancelled or running late I have to sort out a different mode of transport which generally ends up being an Uber or Taxi," he said.
Over the past two years, he said his family has had to fork out over $150 for "something that shouldn't be necessary".
"It's a stress that I shouldn't need to have. I'm tapping on and tapping off every time, I should be able to rely on it," he said.
"I've even had to cancel time with friends and that kind of thing because the bus hasn't come."
"Realistically I am not in school for much longer, but it's more just the fact that especially coming around those exams. I need to be able to rely on it."
"I know that accidents can happen and malfunctions can happen and that kind of thing, so I understand if it gets cancelled every now and then, but I can't see how it is happening so often."
