The Facts About The New Bus Contracts!

As you may already be aware, new bus contracts were signed on the 7th of November, 2012 but what you might not know is the details behind these new contracts.

Details of new bus contracts:

• Contracts 1, 3, 12 & 14 put up for tender in August 2012 and were on showcase for just over one month.
• Contract Region 1 covers Blacktown, Mount Druitt, Penrith, Richmond, Windsor & Riverstone
• Contract Region 3 covers Parramatta, Fairfield, Cabramatta, Liverpool & Bonnyrigg
• Contract Region 12 covers Berowra, Hornsby, Gordon, Chatswood & Macquarie Park
• Contract Region 14 covers Chatswood, Frenchs Forest, Terry Hills & Mona Vale
• The new contracts will come into effect from April 2013

Details of next years bus contracts:

• Contracts 2, 4, 5 & 15 will be put up for tender in 2013
• Contract Region 2 covers Liverpool & Bringelly
• Contract Region 4 covers Parramatta, Rouse Hill, Castle Hill & Dural
• Contract Region 5 covers Lakemba & Punchbowl
• Contract Region 15 covers Campbelltown & Camden

Details about Contract Region 1:

• Current operators: Busways, Westbus & Hawkesbury Valley Buses
• Contract Winner: Busways
• Approximate number of journeys per year: 8 million
• Improvements to be made: fine tuning of timetables to improve service times and ensure efficient connections, improved running times and reduced congestion at bus interchanges, improved coordination with school start and finish times & introduction of new 24/7 control centres to monitor service deliver

Details about Contract Region 3:

• Current operators: Westbus, Busabout, Hopkinsons & Metro-link
• Contract Winner: Transit Systems Australia
• Approximate number of journeys per year: 5.5 million
• Improvements to be made: fine tuning of timetables to improve service times and ensure efficient connections, improved running times and reduced congestion at bus interchanges, improved coordination with school start and finish times & introduction of new 24/7 control centres to monitor service deliver

Details about Contract Region 12:

• Current operator: Veolia Transdev
• Contract Winner: Veolia Transdev
• Approximate number of journeys per year: 1.5 million
• Improvements to be made: placement of contingency buses around the region during the AM peak to replace any late-running service, extension of some off-peak and weekend 565 services to improve access to Macquarie, introduction of additional late night 577 services for Turramurra Hospital, improved coordination with school start and finish times, a variety of other customer service improvement initiatives, introduction of new 24/7 control centres to monitor service delivery

Details about Contract Region 14:

• Current operator: Forest Coach Lines
• Contract Winner: Forest Coach Lines
• Approximate number of journeys per year: 2.5 million
• Improvements to be made: improved coordination with school start and finish times

What happens to current staff?

The current staff of Westbus and Hawkesbury Valley Buses will be offered jobs with Busways

What happens to the current operators?

Westbus Pty Ltd will cease to exist with the service planners and other staff at the Head office to look after Hillsbus only. All staff at Hawkesbury Valley buses will work for Busways.

What happens to Westbus Buses?

All buses purchased before 2009 will be either sold or moved by the discretion of Westbus. All buses operated after 2009 are owned by the NSW government and will be handed over to Busways.

What happens to the bus depots?

It is unclear but it is assumed that the depots will be transferred over to the new operator.

More to come...