Australian transport analysts and operators are calling on the federal government to extend its support of the aviation industry to the buses servicing regional and rural parts of the country.
Greyhound Australia, the country's only national coach service, says it has had to stand down 244 of its 537 staff since coronavirus restrictions reduced passenger service by 95 per cent.
CEO Alex de Waal told SBS News he reached out to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack in early April for support, but he is yet to receive a response.
"We asked [the government] to consider helping us keep the corridor from Sydney to Cairns open for just two services per day, keeping in mind we sustained 13 daily services on that corridor pre-COVID," he said.
"We also looked to the future and asked the government to consider some support to help us re-establish the network when borders reopen, because shutting these services down is one thing but to re-register the vehicles and start from literally zero passengers and recreate a viable and functioning network takes quite a bit of investment."
Before the pandemic, Greyhound travelled to 180 destinations around Australia, operated 420 services per week and helped five million people move around the country each year.
Greyhound Australia says it has reached out to the federal government for support but has received no response. Source: Greyhound Australia
Now, the network has been reduced to 28 services - those contracted by Australia Post to help facilitate mail deliveries to regional communities.
"I think the government has really done a fantastic job in making sure the tree survives, but there’s lots of branches on that tree and regional communities need to be considered as well," Mr de Waal said.
"As we emerge out of lockdown, reigniting the key corporate centres of Australia is obviously important, but we can't lose sight of the fact that regional communities are really impacted more severely and are more vulnerable, so we owe it to those communities to make sure they are considered."
While he is yet to receive a response from the federal government, Mr de Waal said the company is speaking with the Queensland government to try to secure financial support.
The bus service stops in 180 communities around Australia. Source: Greyhound Australia
Yale Wong of the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies said while public transport services funded by the states had a steady stream of funding during the pandemic, private bus services relied on by regional Australia have more in common with the airlines.
"These operators really rely on fare revenue from passengers, they're commercial operators working in the same way as airlines," he told SBS News.
"We’ve seen government subsidise air links to regional communities, but there’s a whole range of long distance coach and charter operators that have seen their revenues vanish overnight because there’s no more inbound tourism and there’s no more travel to the communities.
"So they’ve had to deregister buses and lay off workers and there hasn’t been the same financial support given to them as we've seen given to the airlines."
In April, the federal government announced it would spend $165 million to guarantee Qantas and Virgin's .
Like the airlines, Mr de Waal said his coach service will not be able to immediately return to its original capacity when coronavirus restrictions are lifted, and the disruption could impact regional communities for years as the network is rebuilt.
"Without a doubt, the costs associated with reestablishing the network is going to lead to a more prudent return to services, so we’re going to have to be very cautious about which services we introduce and we’re going to have to focus on the services in which we have maximum patronage to ensure their viability," he said.
"On our own, that process is going to be very slow and retracted, but with support from government we could obviously get on our feet more rapidly and return those services to the regional communities more effectively."
SBS News has contacted Mr McCormack's office for comment but is yet to receive a response.
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