Ride Vintage Buses Down George Street This Saturday for the Very Last Time

Journey across the city in a bus older than your grandparents, as transport officials commemorate the end of an era. With construction on the new light rail about to get underway, tomorrow marks the last time that public buses will travel down George Street. To celebrate the occasion, Transport NSW are bringing some of their oldest machines out of retirement and giving the old tin cans one last hurrah.

The vintage vehicles, on loan from the Sydney Bus Museum in Leichhardt, will motor down George Street from midday to 5pm, offering people free rides between Railway Square and Bridge Street. Buses from as early as the 1930s will be seen trundling down the main thoroughfare. The museum has been showcasing some of the vehicles on Facebook, giving truth to the old expression 'they just don't make them like they used to'.

"This weekend Sydney changes forever and what a great way to celebrate with the bus museum of Sydney, the historic buses," Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance told ABC News. "It's an opportunity for the community to recognise Sydney's bus history on George Street, but most importantly with an eye to the future."

Once the old vehicles are safely back in storage, a major overhaul of Sydney's public bus routes will come into effect in the early hours of Sunday morning. Constance conceded that the changes, which will see 330 less buses enter the CBD, may cause some disruptions. "There'll be teething problems," he said. "I know everyone is going to jump up and down about that, but we've got to get this city right and so there's going to [be] pain associated with the build."

Via ABC News.

Image: Sydney Bus Museum.