Sydney City Council has banned beach goers from riding shirtless or bikini-clad community buses, reigniting a decades-old debate over public order in Australia.
“Please dress appropriately. Please wear clothing over your swimsuit,” says a sign on the Hop, Skip and Jump bus, which is funded by Northern Beaches Council and runs through Manly, Fairlight and Balgowla in Sydney’s northern suburbs. The signs were revealed Friday in a report by CNN affiliate 7News Sydney.
The city’s website states that buses are the primary form of public transportation in coastal areas.
According to 7News, it will be at the driver’s discretion whether to refuse passengers a ride due to clothing or lack of clothing.
CNN affiliate 9 News reported that the changes were made following complaints from passengers, many of whom support the restrictions.
“We’re a bit old-fashioned. We want people to dress appropriately, especially if they’re on public transport,” one woman told 7News.
Another woman described passengers in swimsuits as “confrontational”, adding that the bus was “small” and “very restrained”.
“Sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable when I see people living with very little clothing,” said one man.
But “the question is where to draw the line,” said the young woman, adding, “Many people will probably wear activewear on the bus.”
The council has not yet added any new rules to the bus service code of conduct on its website. The rules already instruct passengers not to eat, drink, smoke or carry large objects such as surfboards on buses when they are full.
CNN has reached out to the City Council for further comment.
Australia has a long history of controversy surrounding beachwear.
In the early 1960s, decades of tensions between female bathers and local authorities in Sydney’s eastern suburbs of Waverley escalated to the point where local media dubbed them the “bikini wars,” according to local council archives. Similar “wars” took place elsewhere in Sydney, 7News reported.
The incident followed the arrest of more than 50 women at Bondi Beach during the October long weekend in 1961 after beach inspectors enforced a 1935 bylaw that required swimwear to meet strict measurements.
Although the ordinance was repealed in late 1961 with a simpler requirement of wearing “proper and appropriate” swimwear, the debate over appropriate beachwear continues.
In 2024, calls to ban the wearing of G-string bikinis on the streets of Australia’s eastern Gold Coast sparked protests and a national debate.
