School Bus Services
The PTA manages the policy and entitlement framework, system management and contract management of more than 800 orange School Bus Services (SBS) around the State. These buses provide access to school for students in rural areas, picking them up from the farm gate (where appropriate), as well as providing access to schools in the metropolitan areas for students attending special education facilities. Responsibility for the management of these services rests with the SBS branch.
As at June 30, 2011, the school bus network was made up of 713 school bus contracts servicing mainstream schools, 119 servicing special education facilities, and three regular public transport service arrangements. Around the state, these services were accessed each school day by 26,600 students, using mainly the contracted orange school buses.
Where eligible students could not be accommodated on a school bus, their parents/carers were paid a conveyance allowance to offset the cost of getting their children to the nearest appropriate school. Transport assistance was also provided to students attending special education facilities, mainly in large regional towns and in metropolitan Perth.
Cost of the service
The cost of providing 832 SBS bus contracts (inclusive of our seat belt program) and the payment of conveyance allowance was $100.8 million in 2010-11. Administration and corporate on-costs took the total to $106.1m.
All orange school buses are operated by private contractors and in 2010-11 there were four contract service models.
- Composite Rate Model (CRM) contracts (20-30 years in duration) - 690 contracts (690 services)
- Fixed-term contracts (1-15 year tendered terms since 1995) - 140 contracts (140 services)
- Regional School Bus cluster contracts - one contract (22 services)
- Regular passenger transport (licence arrangement with fare subsidy) - three arrangements
The CRM is an average cost model which was implemented in January 2004 and provides for contractor payments, with the cost elements of the payment model being reviewed over a three-year cycle by an independent review panel.
Description of services
The average cost per contract kilometre rose 3.7 per cent, reflecting increased fuel and wage prices and costs associated with the phased introduction of air-conditioning and automatic transmission on contract school buses.
The service reliability measure covers rural mainstream services and education support school buses in the metropolitan area, and is based upon arrival less than 10 minutes before school starts and departure less than 10 minutes after school finishes. In 2010-11, service reliability was 99 per cent, up from 97 per cent in 2009-10. SBS also processed 4595 conveyance allowance claims for eligible recipients - 9.809m conveyance kilometres were travelled, costing $1.938m.
Objectives and outcomes
| OBJECTIVE | OUTCOME |
|---|---|
Provide transport assistance for eligible students to attend their nearest government or non-government school offering the appropriate year of study |
|
Ensure the transport assistance provided to students is appropriate, cost-effective, safe and fair in its application |
|
Ensure all service contracts are managed effectively and efficiently in accordance with agreements made between the Minister, the PTA and individual contractors and/or their representatives |
|
The year’s developments
On behalf of the Department of Education, SBS awarded a contract for the provision of 33 small school buses to carry migrant children or children from refugee families resettled to Perth, to attend primary Intensive English Centres.
A number of services were reviewed to ensure that we are meeting the needs of eligible students entitled to transport assistance, and various outcomes were achieved:
- A new service from Cape Burney to Geraldton
- Two new services to Merredin (Merredin-Nukarni and Merredin-Burran Rock)
- Five new services for Kalgoorlie (Kalgoorlie-Kambalda, Kalgoorlie-Coolgardie), replacing services previously run by TransGoldfields
- Seven short-term contract services to Ellenbrook and Midland from the shires of Gingin and Chittering were made permanent
- Two new services to South Yunderup
- Three new services for Serpentine Jarrahdale area
- Two new services to Bidyadanga
- A new Education Support service to Kenwick School
- A new Education Support service from Pinjarra to Mandurah
- Services operating to Karratha, Manjimup, Wanneroo and Bullsbrook were adjusted to streamline travelling times and make better use of bus-carrying capacities
At year-end, 588 school buses (67 per cent of the contracted fleet) were fitted with seat belts.
Major initiatives for 2011-12
To maximise efficiency, we will continue to review various operations:
- Services operating in metropolitan fringe (i.e. Armadale, Two Rocks) areas
- Rural services in Broome, Wyndham, Bindoon, Warmun, Balgo Hills, Ngalapita, Ngalangangpum, Bow River, Brigadoon, Northam, Narrogin, Kondinin, Corrigin and Merredin
- Education support services in Bunbury
We will also continue to liaise with the Department of Education to review the student transport assistance policy with regard to reviewing transport provision when school facilities are opened or closed.
School Bus Services: Service Reliability
School Bus Services: Average cost per contracted kilometres
