The 342 to Daceyville - Australia's shortest bus route!

Sydney bus route 342 is possibly Australia’s shortest bus route! At an astonishing 650m/0.4miles long, and taking less than its scheduled four minute travel time, it is an oddity in Sydney’s extensive public transport network. But why on earth does this route exist? Follow us as we look into the history of this bus route, initially introduced as a three month trial in 1996, has continued to operate now for over 27 years at the time of this video’s release!
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!!ADDENDUM!! - 13th May 2024
We visited and produced most of this video last month in April. Since then, there has been an unfortunate alteration to the schedule of the 342, there are two services from Daceyville to Kingsford (Dacey Gardens), but not there is only one, yes ONE, bus service from Dacey Gardens back to Daceyville! Refer to the 342's timetable in the link below.
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Sources:
342 Bus Route - Timetable and Route Map: transportnsw.info/routes/deta...
Sydney Bus Routes - South East Network Map: transportnsw.info/document/56...
St Michael’s Parish, Daceyville - History: stmichaeldaceyville.org.au/hi...
1996/97 State Transit Authority Annual Report: www.manlymania.net/Ferry/pdf/...
Sydney Bus Routes: sydneybusroutes.com/ AND sydneybusroutes.com/wp-conten...
“We’re Moving Sydney” 1994 Television Commercial in all its 90s glory!
• Sydney Buses (We're Mo...
(I remember this ad as a child growing up in Sydney in the 90s, and it’s one of my earliest inspirations to become a transport enthusiast!)
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'Rheilffordd' is the Welsh word for ‘Railway’ and encompasses this upcoming channel, which explores the people and stories behind our railway and industrial heritage by visiting and getting up close to many working examples, riding aboard them and speaking with the passionate people behind it all. We pride ourselves on high-quality, professionally produced content to tell the stories of our railway and transport history, and a lot of hours of production, research and editing goes into each video.
Our aim is to build a worldwide community of like minded transport enthusiasts, curious about railways, journeys and systems abroad, and we’d love to hear from you with any feedback and suggestions, leave a comment below or get in touch with us via our social media.
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Video Closed Captions is by Rev.com, and are created to allow more clarifty and accessibility for those who may be hearing impaired to enjoy the video. Become a
Presenter, Camera and Editing by Maikha Ly
Equipment used: DJI Osmo Pocket 2 and iPhone 13 Pro
Edited on: Adobe Premiere Pro
Music: Epidemic Sound
Thanks to:
Robert Henderson of sydneybusroutes.com for supply of old copies of the 342’s Timetable and Route Map
Stephen Cho - Photograph of 342 Bus
Eric Tierney - Action for Public Transport (New South Wales), for his awesome suggestions on the improvement to the 342’s route

[@Taitset]

Great video Maikha! Very interesting little route and some good suggestions on how to make it more useful.

[@tangiers365]

Australia's least frequent bus route - the 580 by adelaide metro in adelaide look it up twice a day mon- fri each way - its next to the cbd so not rural

[@joshporter5422]

Sydney's 388 might have that beat as Australia's least frequent public bus route. It runs only once a day and only in a single direction from Mon-Fri. Route start is also a 10-15min drive from the CBD.

[@tangiers365]

@@joshporter5422 at least those areas have sort of nearby transport - the 580 is one of 2 busses that doesnt go to the city, ie. suburb - suburb. but the 388 sounds the winner!

[@mark123655]

Is the 388 a dedicated route though, given its really just a short running of the 389 for 90% of the route.

[@joshporter5422]

​@@mark123655 That is correct. However the 388 is operated by a different region contract holder being R9 Transdev John Holland where 389 is run by R6 Transit Systems.

[@exploringsydneysrailways]

I learnt about this bus route a while ago, and it is a very unusual one. You're right that extending it or adding a deviation to another bus route to this area would be a good idea to improve the public transport accessibility of this suburb.

[@martythemartian99]

I like your East Gardens extension idea. These days it could easily be done with a smaller (10 seats plus wheelchair access) electric mini bus, doing the route every 30-60 minutes, more or less.

[@pandammonia234]

I work for SCC and i believe that there is a subsidy in place to assist the residents. There are a few of our Sydney residential facilities that maintain a specialised route to service them.

[@Rheilffordd]

Is the subsidy directly paid to the operator or to the residents with their fares?

[@pandammonia234]

@@Rheilffordd I honestly can't say. I don't work in the head office or finance dept, but I'll see if i can find out. From what I understand we pay the operating company to maintain service to our facilities, the residents pay a regular pension fare. There is also a residential in Merrylands West that has a bus come off the main road, just to service the facility at the end of a side street, use the purpose built roundabout to turn around, and go back to it's regular route. The stop is ssentially on private property, but is a public bus stop for all intents and purposes, but serves nothing more than our residents and staff.

[@Rheilffordd]

@@pandammonia234 interesting! Thank you so much for that tidbit as I had no idea such arrangements exist 😁

[@leonsharpe5252]

And would you believe in the latest timetable change, one of those four trips was cut.

[@Rheilffordd]

I know! Just as I was about the release the video was when this timetable changed happened!

[@GreatAussieDrives]

Fantastic video mate!! Love the passion and the all the editing you put into your videos. I remember looking at the eastern suburbs bus network map as a kid and finding the 342 (and the now-continued 341, briefly shown at 3:22) very odd so it was super interesting to learn about the route and why it exists. 👍

[@tomv8952]

Came to say the same thing, great editing, very nice

[@Rheilffordd]

Hi folks, thanks for the kind words, here’s hoping I can make more content like this!

[@8888k]

Thanks for archiving this rare route! Extremely well put together video.

[@Rheilffordd]

My pleasure! It was just so usual and absurd for it not to be shown to the wider world 😁

[@WillJamesRailways]

Fantastic video mate! Keep them coming!

[@Rheilffordd]

Thanks man! I’m now learning it’s a task and a half to keep up with comments 🤣

[@RMTransit]

What an absurdly short route! I agree with your suggestion, you could likely do away with it and move the terminal for another route to the same point for the same effect but with better service!

[@Rheilffordd]

Hi Reece! I am really hoping to draw attention to this route to hopefully make it better for the community! (Thanks for the comment too, greatly enjoy your channel)

[@glitchFan2428]

Very well done video! For such an irregular service, the amount of b roll you got is insane 👍🏻

[@Rheilffordd]

Thanks Maxson! Videos like yours inspired me to take the leap and look at bus topics as well! The b-roll was really stretched! I did it over two days and over six individual 342 services to try and get the footage I did!

[@CockatooTransit]

Earned a sub - can't believe I've never come across this channel before! Great videos

[@Rheilffordd]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[@hamishwatt2466]

As a kid we rode the 343 in the 70s great to see that bus is still there.. fond memories. Thanks for the video

[@harveymeline3290]

Your videos are brilliant. Great content and very well produced. 👍

[@Rheilffordd]

Thank you Harvey! Feel free to check out our other videos as well

[@VectraVX]

Wow! An Aussie bus transport video!! My man I would absolutely love to see more of these if you had your heart in it!

[@Rheilffordd]

Thanks Vectra! Hopefully I can produce more videos like this 😁

[@msnadiak]

I am from Maroubra Junction originally and this is bringing back nostalgic memories. I remember those very old Daceyville houses. Geez Kingsford has changed alot.

[@Rheilffordd]

Dacey Gardens once had trams as well! 😜

[@staryoshi06]

Man could you imagine this is your bus and you miss it.

[@staryoshi06]

Honestly, three trips for a route that runs four times a day for about four minutes each way isn't that bad.

[@SineN0mine3]

I mean you could probably just walk, it's more than 650m to the nearest bus stop for me!

[@_rupert]

Gwea Ave is no-right-turn to stop the rat run from Gardeners Road - Isaac Smith St - Gwea Ave - Banks Ave. When Eastgardens opened in the 1980s, that rat run became a big safety probem for Daceyville residents, so the no-right-turn was introduced then.

[@Rheilffordd]

Ah that explains it, thanks for that!

[@icascone]

Great video and well done! :)

[@Rheilffordd]

Thank you for the feedback!

[@driverm4544]

I thought the old 258 was pathetic in Cleveland, QLD. But this seriously takes the cake. At least the 258 connected with something (connected poorly, but a connection nonetheless)

[@Victorian_steam]

What an interesting Route ! Great suggestions going forward! and great video as always! I’m voting you for transport minister !

[@Rheilffordd]

Haha thanks! If I became transport minister, I’d divert all funding to heritage 😜

[@TANGARASandOSCARS]

Yeah, this is a good use of a bus in the middle of the day. But they could definitely up the frequency to 3 round trips per day, and/or run it as an extension to route 342. This is what is done in East Lindfield with the 206/207/208/209 to "Lindfield Garden Village".

[@Rheilffordd]

Here’s hoping this video brings on some improvement to the 342 as an extension of itself or other routes to serve other services in the area!

[@stevenpam]

Interesting oddity... thanks for investigating!

[@gormster]

I’ve always wondered what the deal is with the 342. It seems like the kind of thing that would be better served by the on-demand bus service, but maybe that’s too high a barrier to entry for these riders. Still, you raise some great points: at this frequency, it’s almost unusable (and almost unused). Either give these people something they can actually use, or stop pretending that you care.

[@Rheilffordd]

Agreed! An on demand bus would be absolutely perfect for this area and scenario 👌

[@Jason-mx5uo]

Wow that place has changed so much since i lived there through out the early 80's till mid 90's.

[@jamesc21051979]

301 in Perth from Midland to Midland hospital is 600 meters. Basically when they built the new hospital it was too far to walk between for those who might need it so they started the route. It will disappear in the coming years when the new Midland station is built as the new station is right next to the hospital

[@Rheilffordd]

I just had a look, wow that is indeed a short route! I also had a measure…. It’s 750m! Close…. thank you though for this one!

[@timrozitis961]

Wow! That's incredibly short - there used to be a route in Adelaide (376) that simply looped from West Lakes shopping centre around Delfin Island. I think the entire loop was about 3km (but inefficient access to West Lakes was responsible for some of that length). It was surprisingly high frequency (maybe half-hourly?), and a trip was allowed 15minutes. There was a shift from the Port Depot that did about 6 laps if this in a row - and the few times I had that shift there were a number of empty journeys, and I think I could count on one hand the total number of pax across those 6 (or more) trips.

[@Rheilffordd]

I live in Adelaide and aware of this bus route! Short, at the least there is some frequency to it. Although I can’t imagine this one being full

[@mobiletransportvideo]

There used to be another short bus service in the area, the 341 but was axed.

[@6Fiona6_P_6]

As a person who lives in the Western Suburbs in Sydney, I’m aghast and appalled at such a waste as that bus route. We need more bus services here in the west. That bus would be put to better use in the Western Suburbs. Yes there are frequent buses in some suburbs here in the west but there are some Western Suburbs that suffer from less that frequent services. In particular on the weekend at night…… ⚛️☮️🌏

[@metropod]

The shortest bus route by me in New York is the B42, which is little more than a shuttle route and even that is three times longer than this and connects directly to the subway. the fact this is an almost 30 year "trial"...

[@warfradio4287]

That beats the old 509 Hope Street bus in Brunswick (Melbourne). Old route was just shy of 2km. Now extended to Barkly Square Shopping Centre.

[@Rheilffordd]

At least common sense prevailed!

[@ABCD-bl5rw]

The route 272 in Perth from Kalamunda to Jorgenson Park is about 850m long.

[@ElementEvilTeam]

should merge it with a nearby route

[@mobiletransportvideo]

A similar service on the central coast is operated by red bus service that uses an existing route number 21 is a service that goes to Anne Findlay Place. In the AM the service starts at a Bus Stop on Central Coast Hwy Near Coleridge Rd that goes to Bateau Bay Sq Via Anne Findlay Place. A couple of hours later the service Departs Bateau Bay Sq Going to A Bus Stop on Central Coast Hwy Near Coleridge Rd Via Anne Findlay Place.

[@madisonbooth910]

Loved the video. I would love if you reviewed the bus route 356

[@Rheilffordd]

Just had a look at the 356…. Anything unique about this bus route?

[@madisonbooth910]

@@Rheilffordd What are your thoughts on the bus? The 356 replaced the 316 and 317. I catch the 356 at least once a week and I find it’s never on time. I don’t think there’s much that is unique about this bus route.

[@Rheilffordd]

@@madisonbooth910 I found buses in Sydney, unless you’re on a high frequency road, never run to time, just anywhere in the inner suburbs! 😂 (P.S. I like dogs, Chilli looks like a funny dog ☺️)

[@madisonbooth910]

@@Rheilffordd Chilli is a great companion. She 12 and a half now.

[@IssueWithSkill]

i actually used to go to st micheals, seeing this video startled me lol

[@Rheilffordd]

Haha! Assume you’ve long left now 😜

[@IssueWithSkill]

@@Rheilffordd yeah

[@tacitdionysus3220]

A characteristically excellent Maikha clip. Some things never change (Phil - a.k.a. 'Oldfart')

[@Rheilffordd]

Hi Phil! Hope you’re keeping well

[@tacitdionysus3220]

@@Rheilffordd Thanks mate, and likewise to yourself. Thanks also for triggering an overwhelming urge to ride that bus now.

[@RegexGreen817]

I have subscribed to your channel

[@Rheilffordd]

Thank you! Hopefully I make more videos soon

[@michael77x]

The 269 starting from North Sydney to McMahons point is 550 metres, Its scheduled for 6 minutes.

[@Rheilffordd]

Just had a look at this one and saw it was short too! However McMahons Point to North Sydney (Blue St) is 1.3km….. still short!

[@positronundervolt4799]

Sounds like something I would do in Cities Skylines, except I would put like 20 buses on the line & it would just be a conga line of buses picking up & dropping off one person a day.

[@jayyy092]

The 301 from Midland station to St John hospital is 500m long it’s actually the shortest bus route in the country

[@RailTownProductions]

Maybe should get The Bus View to visit this!

[@railcar-explains]

You could literally walk the 650 metres

[@thevannmann]

Yes but what about the elderly or disabled?

[@russellhorsefield9199]

It reminds me of the old shoppers special 328 Northgate East (Nudgee rd Banyo to the now defunct Toombul Shopping Town) 6 each way services between 9am and 3 pm. Mind you the route was 8kms. I hope they could improve on this as this would had been a vote buyer at the time. East Gardens shopping centre to the hospital via there would be good considering how bad Sydney traffic really is. I myself live in the Sunshine Coast and Public Transport is not the greatest but would be by the 2032 Olympics come around.

[@user-nr9we2ik3u]

So fun

[@TazzieT]

You must’ve spent ages getting all these clips, gg

[@sgbuses]

388 is another bizarre route that runs once a week. You might want to check it out

[@Rheilffordd]

This one has been mentioned a few times here in the comments, and even then, I’m completely miffed why this route even exists the way it does 😆

[@sgbuses]

@@Rheilffordd What amazes me is that so many other deserving routes got cancelled outright after many rounds before the change of government...and this somehow still survived.

[@AlphaGeekgirl]

All of your suggestions are way better than what already exists.

[@Rheilffordd]

Thanks! Here’s hoping the right people on the higher ups have seen this!

[@smithydll]

This is the kind of route those on demand mini busses like bridj would do well at.

[@cgfreed3]

Could they implement the bridj on demand bus?

[@canadiancatgreen]

The reason it exists it to take passngers from one point to another poit. So that ahswers the queestion why it exists

[@josephj6521]

Every transport nerd needs to organize a “ride this bus day” and fill it up! :)

[@TheVenueNerd]

Possibly one of WORLD’S shortest. Coming to Sydney from Sheffield (UK) in August. Would be cool to say I’ve been on it but think I’ll have to give it a miss.

[@leeroberts1192]

It kinda sounds like the bus equivalent of a Parliamentary Train.

[@ilyapetoushkoff8362]

I would assume given the fact it is extremely short and doesn't even do a return trip, no bus is assigned to this route and it is served by whatever is scheduled to go to/from the depot. Having said so, exploring whether any existing bus service can touch the only bus stop near the aged care centre facility makes sense, in my opinion, as long as whatever the proposal, the resulting service remains linear.

[@HyperHorse]

What a joke. It should at least be a half hourly service.

[@rjl110919581]

WAS OLD SCHOOL SPECI8AL BUS TAKE FROM SHCOOL TO MAIN SERVICE IN 1960 RUN OUT KINGFORD MANY YEARS

[@WaylonKenning]

Wouldn’t an on demand bus make more sense?

[@MrMrMuhummad]

We just call it locally the old People bus

[@Techno-Universal]

You could probably walk the distance of that route in less than 10 minutes! :)

[@margi9103]

I walked that route for 7 years from 1962 to 1968. I lived in Kingsford and attended Daceyville Public School, which was on the other side of the Catholic school. As a child the walk seemed like an eternity but probably closer to 20 minutes.

[@Techno-Universal]

@@margi9103 The longer walking time would probably be because of the wait time at crossings on the route while for me it takes 20 minutes to walk 2KM from my home to the nearest train station which only has two crossings with lights on the route so there’s not much waiting time! It could still also be a slower walking speed! :)

[@margi9103]

@@Techno-Universal it was because I was a child and I probably dawdled and we had to wait at the pedestrian crossing on Gardeners Road where they had a police constable doing the crossing duty in the morning and afternoon before they had the lollipop people doing crossing duty. My younger sister always called the policeman “David”. The first one she encountered was a David, so for they were all David and they never corrected her.

[@Techno-Universal]

@@margi9103 It’s like your sister somehow established David as the name/word for a lollipop crossing controller like if that was the norm of the first one she would frequently see! :)

[@waltercoslovi6404]

You have to much common sense which is lacking in some government departments.

[@Jason-mx5uo]

That's the thing about common sense these days, it's just not that common unfortunately

[@cracknoir8397]

Easy days for the driver !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@RXTransit]

Holy shit 650m??? Even that beats Perth's shortest route Which is the 272

[@RXTransit]

The 272 operates from Kalamunda Bus Stn - Kalamunda Community Centre a few times a day. It's 1.0km in length

[@thevannmann]

@@RXTransit More like 900 metres but yeah.

[@kokikoda8203]

eastern suburb privlaggges 101

[@podgee7507]

all this for 9:08, what a joke

[@Gary-vv5gt]

Guess drivers go fuck yeah a short route, do an hour of smoko and do a return trip haha....

[@josephj6521]

I think one of the terminating routes in Kingsford is allocated this route prior to smoko.

[@leonsharpe5252]

Considering the high frequency route 392 is one block away, this is a waste of resources. Yes, in trip got cut, but we shouldn’t be sending buses down every street that parallel high frequency services. The new proposed Brisbane bus network is a prime example of what shouldn’t be done.

[@SineN0mine3]

They could just have the 392 divert twice a day to hit those stops, this is frankly ridiculous. I assume that route probably runs all day at regular intervals, it's not unusual for buses in my area to have two or three different variations for time of day.

[@leonsharpe5252]

@@SineN0mine3 the road network around that area doesn’t allow for such a simple thing like that - which is probably why the 342 has survived. But as a taxpayer funding this, do you really want to be paying for such a useless service which clearly no one uses. A subsidized taxi scheme would work so much better and be a hell of a lot cheaper.

[@stephenarbon2227]

A very expensive taxi and a ridiculous waist of resources. Most retirement villages have there own minibus running at least daily to the main shops, here probably Eastgardens. This one doesn't even reach Kingsford Shops. On the northside, there used to be a similar bus service that ran one block around to Warringah Mall, at the beginning or end of couple of shifts. The service was so unreliable, that there became,an [informal] arrangement where the residents would ring up, and the depot inspector would send a bus out to pick them up. Daceyville Suburb is interesting because it was an early example of a public housing estate, I think the first in Australia, and modelled on English garden estates, far more successfully than the post-war. And being within walking distance of 2 tram routes and the local shops at Kingsford, didn't really need a seperate service to a place that ended at parkland. From my experience, you couldn't have a full-time extension, as certain times on the weekend, the streets near the ovals become impassible for buses.

[@S-os1nu]

551

[@spacedeamon88]

Lol yep driven that route . It just for 1 lady lol

[@NOYFB]

Outrageous waste of public resources.

[@Rheilffordd]

Let’s hope the route gets improved then 😜

[@tld8102]

This trial should have never happened. sounds like corruption mixed with private operator maliciousness.

[@AlphaGeekgirl]

Why are you talking in miles? I get it if you were an old fart like me who learnt miles at school….But that was back in 1974 or something. Most of your audience will be young Australians, and they won’t know what .4 of a mile means anyway I don’t get it 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@Rheilffordd]

Hello! You’d be surprised at our stats, we actually have a growing audience from overseas like US and UK who all use miles/imperial system, and it’s really not much effort to mention it too 😜

[@theelliottline3637]

Nowhere in Europe uses miles.

[@oraclerex]

I bet bottom dollar some elderly at that retirement home pull some strings with local govt to keep this "boomer priviledge" bus route in place!

[@tmystaew1511]

@johaylen . Great vid, totally agree

[@Rheilffordd]

Thanks!