The PTA has seven intra-town bus services and eight town school services operating in 15 major regional towns throughout the State. In addition, the PTA provides four inter-town regional bus services.
In past years, the PTA has also been responsible for the administration of three small regular passenger transport (RPT) services operating in the outer part of the Perth metropolitan area in a complementary capacity to Transperth services. Two of these services were transferred to Transperth metropolitan services at the end of the 2006 calendar year. The performance of all three of the services has been included in the regional town bus services figures for 2006/07 in keeping with the reporting method adopted in previous years.
OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES
| OBJECTIVE | OUTCOME |
|---|---|
Conduct field visits and audit all contractors’ performances and passenger boardings. |
A standardised reporting format introduced to maintain passenger and occupational safety records. Service audits of contractors were carried out in Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Carnarvon, Collie, Dunsborough, Geraldton, Manjimup and Port Hedland. |
Continue with a programmed approach of reviewing regional bus services. |
Improved service levels in regional towns where new suburbs have been developed and an increase in residents - Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Collie, Dunsborough, Geraldton and Broome. |
Develop solutions for regional transport problems in consultation with local communities. |
Safely transporting students attending leavers’ facilities in the South West around Busselton/ Dunsborough which resulted in Police and the local Shires having to deal with the lowest number of misdemeanours for many years, even with the 16% increase in student attendance. Working with the Office of Crime Prevention to establish funding and services for specialised leavers’ week transport support for the Busselton/ Dunsborough area. |
THE YEAR’S DEVELOPMENTS
A comprehensive review of public bus services in the Busselton and Dunsborough areas was carried out. Following the review, the level of service in Busselton was increased to six days a week (with an increase in the number of services during the day), and regular bus services were introduced between Busselton and Dunsborough. In addition, improvements were made to the school bus services operating in the area.
A program to progressively install the Transperth Wayfarer MultiRider system in regional town service buses commenced late in the financial year. The equipment became available following the introduction of the SmartRider ticketing system on the Transperth network during 2006/07. Installation of the MultiRider machines was completed in Kalgoorlie and an assessment of installation requirements commenced in Geraldton.
During the year, a school bus service within the
Broome township
was trialled and proved to be
successful, resulting in the service being made
permanent and the service being increased
from two to three services twice a day. The new
Broome school service and the well-established
Karratha school bus service were both tendered
in the second half of the year and two seven-year
contracts were still to be awarded at year’s end.
Regional PTA staff played a high profile role in the planning, co-ordination and implementation of bus transport for School Leavers’ Week celebrations in Busselton, Dunsborough and Yallingup during November 2006. Feedback from the local community, police service, students and parents was very complimentary in relation to the success of this project.
Service audits (involving the checking of passenger and occupational safety records) were carried out on contractors in Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Carnarvon, Collie, Geraldton and Manjimup.
COST OF THE SERVICE
Total expenditure on regional bus services was $12.1 million in 2006/07, which represented an increase of 14% over expenditure of $10.6 million in 2005/06. Expenditure on intra-town services rose from $10.2 million to $11.6 million, an increase of 14%, while the cost of inter-town services increased by 13.9% from $0.459 million to $0.523 million.
PATRONAGE
Total boardings on regional bus services increased by 0.4% from 2.297 million in 2005/06 to 2.306 million in 2006/07. Fare-paying boardings increased by 3.3% from 1.897 million to 1.960 million.
On intra-town services, while total boardings showed an increase of 0.3% from 2005/06, fare-paying boardings reached a four year peak of 1.954 million, a 3.3% increase from the 2005/06 level. Patronage on inter-town services recorded significant gains in percentage terms (20% for both total boardings and fare-paying boardings), however, given the minor nature of the contracted inter-town services, the actual numbers were quite small.
PASSENGER SATISFACTION
Customer surveys were carried out to identify possible changes to various services, for example Busselton and Dunsborough for a Tuesday service and a link between the two towns. Due to regional distances it is difficult to undertake regular, comprehensive surveys to ascertain independent outcomes.
PLANNED MAJOR INITIATIVES FOR 2007/08
- A four-year program will commence in 2007/08 to replace buses in regional centres with the “cascading” of 44 diesel low-floor 2002 model Mercedes buses from the Transperth fleet. The aim is to improve the standard and comfort of country bus services through the introduction of accessible buses to regional town communities. The program will also help to reduce the average age of the regional bus fleet to around 12 years.
- Service reviews scheduled for 2007/08 are:
- Bunbury: Review of the operational efficiency of major service enhancements introduced during 2003/04. The review will also look at timetables in Bunbury, with a view to improving connection times between Bunbury City Transit (BCT) services, and between BCT and other train and bus services in the area.
- Albany and Geraldton: Review of the town service boundaries to ensure equity in student fares.
- Port Hedland: Review of school bus services and the fare structure for Port Hedland and South Hedland passengers.
- Services will be introduced to two new subdivisions in Geraldton.
- The “school special” bus service in Kununurra will be tendered during 2007/08.