There are seven intra-town and seven town school services operating in 14 major regional towns throughout WA. In addition, the PTA provides five inter-town regional bus services, one more than in 2006/07 due to the subsidisation of the Kalgoorlie-Laverton service from October 2007.
In previous years, the PTA has been responsible for the administration of three small regular passenger transport services in the outer metropolitan area, complementing Transperth services. Two of these services were transferred to Transperth at the end of the 2006 calendar year, and the third at the end of 2007. In keeping with the reporting method adopted in previous years, the performance of the final service from July to December 2007 has been included in the regional town bus services figures for 2007/08.
objectives and outcomes
| OBJECTIVE | OUTCOME |
|---|---|
|
Conduct field visits and audit all contractors’ performances and passenger boardings. |
A standardised reporting format was introduced to maintain passenger and occupational safety records. Service audits of contractors were carried out in Albany, Broome, Bunbury, Busselton, Carnarvon, Esperance, Karratha, Narrogin and Port Hedland. |
|
Continue with a programmed approach to reviewing regional bus services. |
Improved service levels in regional towns where new suburbs have resulted in an increase in residents. Service reviews undertaken in Albany, greater Bunbury, Busselton, Esperance, Geraldton and Broome. |
|
Develop solutions for regional transport problems in consultation with local communities. |
The PTA worked with the Roebourne Shire, Rio Tinto and North West Shelf Venture to obtain funding to extend the trial for the existing Karratha, Dampier, Wickham, Roebourne and Point Samson service from two to four days a week. This will provide transport for fly-in/fly-out personnel between the Pilbara towns. The trial will begin in July 2008. |
The year’s developments
The regional bus replacement program began in 2007/08 and involved transferring relatively new low-floor accessible buses View image from the Transperth fleet to regional town operators. Under the program, 41 vehicles will be allocated from 2007/08 to 2010/11 with a view to meeting Federal disability access standards, reducing the average age of the regional bus fleet to around 12 years and improving the standard and comfort of the regional bus services.
Service review highlights during the year included:
- Collie – A comprehensive review of the public school bus service was completed and resulted in the redesign of routes and trip timings to better meet community needs.
- Bunbury – A major review of the services in greater Bunbury was undertaken towards the end of 2007/08, which focussed on linking new sub-divisions in the greater Bunbury area into the town and school integrated transport system, and improving connection times between Bunbury City Transit and other train and bus services in the region.
- Albany and Geraldton – Reviews in both towns focussed on town bus service boundaries, ensuring equity in relation to the payment of fares by students. In addition, services were introduced to two new sub-divisions in Geraldton, while an additional bus was brought on to cater for increased student transport demand in Albany.
- Port Hedland – A review of school services placed particular emphasis on achieving fare-paying equity for Port Hedland and South Hedland students.
In October 2007, the PTA began subsidising the Kalgoorlie-Laverton road coach service due to the non-viability of the operation, and resulting concerns that there would be no community transport option. The continuity of this service was considered to be very important for the communities involved, particularly for the transport of patients to and from the Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital.
During the year, a number of service audits were carried out on the PTA’s regional town bus service contractors in Albany, Broome, Bunbury, Busselton, Carnarvon, Esperance, Karratha, Narrogin and Port Hedland. The audits involved checking route effectiveness, passenger and occupational safety records.
Cost of the service
Total expenditure on regional bus services was $13.1 million, an increase of 8.3 per cent from $12.1 million in 2006/07. Expenditure on intra-town services rose 7.8 per cent from $11.6 million to $12.5 million, while the cost of inter-town services increased by 15.3 per cent from $0.523 million to $0.603 million.
Patronage
Total boardings on regional bus services eased 1.1 per cent from 2.306 million in 2006/07 to 2.281 million, while fare-paying boardings edged up 2.3 per cent from 1.960 million to 2.005 million.
Intra-town service total boardings showed a small (1.1 per cent) decrease, but fare-paying boardings rose 2.3 per cent to a five-year peak of 1.999 million. On inter-town services, both total and fare-paying boardings increased by 2.3 per cent but, given the minor nature of contracted inter-town services, the actual numbers were quite small.
Passenger consultation
Customer surveys were carried out in several regional towns to identify whether service changes were required. The use of such a survey was instrumental in identifying the need for an extended service in the Karratha, Dampier, Wickham, Roebourne and Point Samson areas. As previously reported, this will result in the existing service (two days a week) being expanded to four days on a trial basis from July 2008.
Planned major initiatives for 2008/09
- Completion of the service review of the greater Bunbury area, particularly in relation to:
- Reviewing the operational efficiency of major service enhancements introduced in 2003/04.
- Further refining connection times between Bunbury City Transit’s bus services and other train and bus services in the region.
- Expanding Bunbury City Transit’s services to cater for new sub-divisions in the area that have no public transport for general commuters or students.
- Continuation of the scheduled bus replacement program, with low-floor buses transferred to regional centres to meet disability requirements and improve the standard and comfort of regional services.
- In Geraldton, the replacement of the existing bus fleet with ex-Transperth vehicles and the purchase of the bus depot.
- Major service reviews scheduled for 2008/09 include:
- Kalgoorlie: Reviewing all the town and school services for operational efficiency, and installing bus stops and shelters for the accurate recording of data into the Transperth Route Information System (TRIS).
- Geraldton: Evaluating the transport needs of new sub-divisions and obtaining global positioning references of all bus stops for TRIS purposes.
- Karratha: Reviewing the operational efficency of existing student services and examining the transport requirements of new sub-divisions in the town.