Strict penalties for unsatisfactory public bus service operators

18/5/96

The State Government will not hesitate to impose penalties on public or private sector organisations awarded contracts to operate metropolitan public transport bus services if they fail to meet the Government's stringent performance requirements, Transport Minister Eric Charlton said today.

Earlier this week, Mr Charlton announced that Metrobus had won the contract to operate the new Central Area Transit System known as CATS, which would replace the City Clipper network and provide a free public bus service in central Perth, West Perth and Northbridge.

He said the main goal of contracting out bus services was to provide the best public transport system in Australia for Western Australian commuters.

But he sounded a warning for whichever operator, or operators, were awarded contracts for the five bus service areas for which tenders were currently being evaluated - Canning, Marmion, Rockingham, Southern River and Wanneroo.

"The Government's bottom line is very simple - contractors must provide a topline service to attract the maximum numbers of people to enjoy the benefits of public transport," he said.

"These conditions are not negotiable."

Mr Charlton said an example of the Government's standards was its attitude to Serco - the company which won the contract to provide bus, train and ferry timetable information.

"They responded to our demands that they improve their service and they solved their teething problems quickly," he said.

"The information service is now much better than it has ever been."

Mr Charlton said the competitive tendering process had been a hard assignment in order to ensure that all participants - MetroBus or private operators - were assessed on the basis of a level playing field. The tender evaluation panel had been working with painstaking care and considerable caution to ensure all the proper processes were followed.

Once the contracts were signed, the travelling public's interests in vital areas such as fares, concessions, timetables, service frequency, bus routes and the quality of buses would continue to be protected. And the Government would continue to act as a watchdog on service and cost performance benchmarks.

"By providing the best service possible more people will be attracted to our public transport system. In fact the people of Perth have a lot to look forward to," Mr Charlton said.

Media contact: Sally Squires 321 7333