Recently our Western Sydney Community Campaigner Kim met up with Helen, a Minchinbury resident who has lived locally all her life, brought up her family here and also works in the area. We always appreciate it when our supporters take the time to meet and share their stories with us. Helen shared her perspectives on how her family members are impacted by the terrible bus stops in their suburbs
Helen and her husband sometimes use the bus to go on outings. They have two bus stops near them and both are unsheltered and without seats. As Helen has a bad knee she can’t stand for very long she needs to time their wait very carefully and if the bus is running late needs to keep walking and moving to relieve the pain in her knee until the bus arrives.
Her son knows of a bus stop in Minchinbury that has been out of service for a long time, it is never used, but unfortunately not everyone is aware of it. One day when he was on a bus, he noticed an older lady waiting at the stop which is no longer in service. She was waiting for the bus to come with no way of knowing that no bus would be coming to this stop.
Helen also told us about her elderly Mum who didn’t drive, waiting for the bus at a stop with no shelter or seat, sometimes waiting at the bus stop for an hour or so for buses that never came and then giving up going home again. Fortunately she had a walker with a seat to sit on and carried an umbrella for shade during her long and often futile waits.
These stories highlight the fact that a broad range of people across our society are impacted by the lack of bus shelters in our hottest suburbs. It is harder for people to travel in their suburbs, run errands or see family on hot days. As the summers get hotter this will impact more and more of us.
Helen is going to send us more photos of bus stops and share the Bus Shelter Campaign information and form with her family and friends.
Have you sent us your #BustedBusStop photos and stories yet?
