Letter to Sydney Buses

I think this is pretty self explanatory.  And I hate writing to disembodied "customer relations" departments.  

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17 August 2008

 

Customer Relations

Sydney Buses

PO Box 2557

Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

 

Dear Sir/Madam 

Detection and reporting of graffiti 

I wish to draw your attention to one specific instance of graffiti on Sydney Buses property that needs attention, and to make some general points about detecting and reporting graffiti on your assets. 

The specifics - there is a brick bus shelter outside Concord Hospital, on Hospital Road, that needs to be cleaned in order to remove an extensive amount of graffiti. 

The general – most of the graffiti on this particular bus shelter is on the inside, and it is clearly visible from inside a bus.  Any driver stopping at this bus shelter should be able to see the graffiti in question.  

Many of the bus stops in the inner west have been vandalised to some extent – usually one or more graffiti tags obscuring the run numbers or timetables, or tags defacing seats and walls.  I have posted a sample of photos at http://tinyurl.com/5f4wff 

I have looked at your website, and noted that although there is some mention of graffiti, there are no means to report graffiti on your assets to Sydney Buses, except perhaps via 131 500.  There is also no statement in regard to your policy for removing graffiti, or an explanation of how responsibility may be split between Sydney Buses and some other entity (such as a Council) in some instances. 

Sydney Water has an online form that can be used for a variety of purposes, and it allows the attachment of documents and photos, which can be quite useful when reporting graffiti and vandalism.  

I suggest you might want to introduce a similar feature. 

I am also at a loss as to why graffiti remains on your assets for longer than a few days.  Every one of your bus stops is visited many times per day by a bus, and in most cases (but not all), graffiti should be visible to the driver.  I have noticed that some services carry an Inspector, which provides an extra pair of eyes for spotting vandalism.  

I presume that Sydney Buses has some sort of internal system for reporting where drivers can report problems with assets – eg, damage to buses, maintenance and servicing issues and that sort of thing.  

I would also assume that the system is not just bus-centric, but allows for the reporting of problems to kerbside assets such as signage, shelters, seating and stops.  

Assuming that such a system exists, and that drivers have access to it and are trained in its use, then it is clear to me that the system is not being utilised to its full potential for reporting damage to your kerbside assets.  In many instances, I have been able to spot damage to your assets from the other side of the road, so I don’t think it should be too hard for drivers to spot it when they are stopped right next to an asset. 

I am not interested in why reports are not being made at present. 

 I am simply requesting that drivers are reminded by their managers to report vandalism if they see it.  If reports don’t start coming in, then I suggest that a manager with responsibility for your kerbside assets rides with a driver along a route and has a look for themselves. 

 

Yours sincerely