More Than One Way

16 Jul More Than One Way

Dear Here to Help,

I know you have previously written about bus service problems in NSW since outsourcing, but it seems to be getting worse! I followed your advice and tried to lodge a complaint, but nothing happens.

At least once a week, my daughter is stranded at Charlestown on her way home from school as one of her 2 busses home is cancelled last minute. I need to leave for work an hour early every day to make sure I actually get there because of last minute bus cancellations. And it takes me an hour longer to get home from work at least once a week due to last minute bus cancellations.

I have complained to Transport NSW, but it seems the company running the busses hasn’t got the memo, as nothing has changed. What more can I do?

Thanks for your query. There is always something else you can try.

Our modern society tends to blame government and look to government to fix things. However, government is simply one actor in our community.

It is certainly worth complaining to Transport for NSW, as often as you have a complaint. Every complaint helps let the NSW government reconsider whether outsourcing should continue. We might think that government “should know”, but government relies on complaints to know what is going on and just how often it is happening.

For bus services, there are 3 main actors:

• government
• private corporations to whom services are outsourced
• users and their families who are impacted by the issues

All corporations want to be accepted by their communities. If you think about community and environmental issues, all large corporations like to tell us about the good things they do for the environment and communities in their websites and annual reports, because that’s what the community demanded.

One of my friends is a youth social worker for a charity. A local club offered his charity a lot of money to sponsor his good work. He refused, saying that he could not accept money from the pokies that were creating the very youth problems that he was working to resolve.

Advocating to corporations is similar to advocating to government – they are both large entities. Remember to always be polite and respectful and tie in your asks to their values and public statements. Just like government, you can:

• send complaints through their complaints channel
• attend their premises, politely asking to speak to someone senior about the issue
• write and email their media/communications team
• post comments on their social media, providing suggested resolutions to their issues
• reach out to senior executives through LinkedIn/email
• just like politicians are your last resort, so are the Board members of the corporation

This article discusses last resort campaigns.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, July 2026. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash