Transperth Buses

Transperth’s bus services are divided into geographic contract areas which are periodically subject to competitive tender. This year, the Marmion-Wanneroo contract area was re-tendered as two separate contracts (Marmion and Joondalup), increasing the number of contracts from 11 to 12.

At June 30, the 12 contracts were operated by three contractors.

• Path Transit: Morley
• Swan Transit: Belmont, Canning, Claremont, Kalamunda, Marmion, Midland (including Midland Shuttle), and Southern River.
• Southern Coast Transit: Fremantle-Cockburn (including Fremantle CAT), Joondalup (including Joondalup CAT), Rockingham-Mandurah, and the Perth CAT contract.

In 2010-11, our bus system operated 304 standard timetabled bus routes and 367 school routes. On a typical weekday this involved 11,806 standard and 367 school service trips. Accessible buses are always used on 132 of the standard routes. A bus service frequency of 20 minutes or better is provided all day on most major corridors, with higher frequencies in peak periods.

The year’s developments

A number of service improvements were carried out during the year.

• Increased service frequency, better off-peak, after-hours and weekend services in Morley East and Ellenbrook, and a new feeder network in Ellenbrook.
• Additional peak period trips and more consistent headways on City Beach services.
• Significant upgrade to service frequency on Beaufort Street services.
• Upgraded peak period services on Guildford Road.
• Two new routes to serve Harrisdale and Piara Waters including a link between Armadale and Murdoch stations.
• Conducted a trial service between Armadale and Cockburn Central stations for six months. The service was withdrawn due to lack of patronage.
• Completed construction of a new bus depot at Karrinyup.
• Extended bus/vehicle parking facilities at Beckenham bus depot.
• Began work to increase the bus stowage area at Shenton Park bus depot.
• Increased annual service kilometres on the Perth Central Area Transit system by 42 per cent, from 824,448 to 1,170,676.

In 2010-11, the Transperth bus network covered 53.551m service kilometres, an increase of 2.3 per cent over 2009-10’s 52.340m kilometres. The increase (1.2m kilometres) was due to the significant enhancement of services in Ellenbrook and Morley East and improvements to the Perth CAT service.

Total capacity on the bus network increased 1.6 per cent to 3736.1m passenger place kilometres, from 3677m in 2009-10. The average capacity of the fleet was 69.767, down 0.7 per cent from 70.253 previously. This continuing decline is due to the increasing proportion of CNG buses, which have a marginally lower capacity than their diesel counterparts.

At June 30 there were 1170 buses in the Transperth fleet, of which 552 (47.2 per cent) were CNG buses. A year earlier, we had 521 CNG (45 per cent of the 1146-vehicle fleet). The existing bus supply agreement will conclude in 2011-12 with the delivery of 10 diesel buses.

The Transperth bus fleet currently includes 59 buses which conform with the Euro5 emissions standard. The fleet also included one “enhanced environmentally-friendly vehicle” (EEV) with emissions between Euro5 and the more stringent Euro6. Euro6 is expected to be the standard by around 2015.

The safety audits and monitoring of our bus contractors continued in line with standard AS 4801-OSH Management Systems. These regular audits and inspections have generated improved safety management systems and safety focus, and our contractors’ Lost Time Injury (LTI) rate continues to be well below the industry standard.

• Swan Transit was re-certified to AS4801 in May 2009 (valid to May 2012). Swan has an LTI rate of 8.0. It is working towards certification in ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems.
• Path Transit was re-certified to AS4801 in August 2009 (valid to August 2012) and has achieved the WorkSafe Platinum Award. Path’s LTI rate is 4.1. It has also been certified as compliant with ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems (valid to December 2012).
• Southern Coast Transit was re-certified to AS4801 in January 2008 (valid to January 2014) and has also achieved the WorkSafe Platinum Award. Southern Coast’s LTI rate is 2.3. SCT has also been certified as compliant with ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems (valid to January 2014).

During the year, we continued to upgrade workshop facilities to ensure that maintenance of CNG-fuelled buses is carried out in a safe environment. The program includes gas detection sensors, alarm systems, extraction fans and the infrastructure to support the maintenance of these units including safe access ladder systems and roof-top walkways.

All depots have had upgrades to gantry rails and hoists used when performing maintenance on the roof of buses, e.g. air conditioning and CNG pods.

Cost of the service

The total cost of operating Transperth bus services was $351.869 million, up 10.4 per cent from $318.835m in 2009-10. Operating costs were $296.395m, up 10.4 per cent from 2009-10’s $268.470m, while annual capital charges (interest and depreciation) rose 10.1 per cent to $55.474m from $50.365m.

The increase in operating cost was due to:

• Increased bus driver wages, which rose 5.6 per cent in July 2010 and 2.2 per cent in January 2011.
• Increased fuel (diesel and compressed natural gas) costs, up approximately 12.5 per cent.
• Increased service kilometres delivered - up 2.3 per cent.

Patronage

Transperth Buses: Patronage (millions)

Total boardings on Transperth bus services reached 76.636m, up 2.5 per cent from 2009-10’s 74.756m. This improved performance was due partly to increased boardings on the Perth CAT system following the introduction of additional service kilometres from August 2010. Cash and SmartRider initial boardings were up 0.8 per cent to 42.590m (previously 42.235m) in 2009-10.

Contract areas recording significant increases in cash and SmartRider initial boardings were Southern River (up 13 per cent), Rockingham-Mandurah (3.4 per cent) and Claremont (three per cent). Boardings fell in Canning (down 3.6 per cent) and Belmont (down 1.6 per cent). Changes in other contract areas were marginal. Boardings on the Circle Route (a high-frequency service connecting major shopping centres, hospitals, universities, schools and colleges) fell for the first time in six years, recording a decline of 0.9 per cent. Boardings on special event services with joint ticketing increased 14.7 per cent to 123,926 (previously 108,068).

Road congestion, particularly in peak periods, and the lack of significant bus priority measures on major roads in Perth continue to impact on service reliability and may affect patronage on Transperth bus services.

In 2010-11, Transperth buses operated 53.551m service kilometres, up 2.3 per cent from 52.340m in 2009-10. On a per service kilometre basis, total boardings increased by 0.2 per cent to 1.431 (previously 1.428), while cash and SmartRider initial boardings fell 1.4 per cent, from 0.807 to 0.795.

Passenger satisfaction

In the 2011 PSM, the proportion of Transperth bus users who expressed overall satisfaction with the system increased to 82 per cent, from 81 per cent in 2010.

Transperth Buses: Level of overall customer satisfaction

The importance rating of the key service characteristics (other than passenger safety) and their respective levels of satisfaction are shown in the accompanying table. Though there was no change in the 10 most important characteristics, the importance rating for “availability of seats” increased from 48 per cent to 54 per cent.

The satisfaction rating for most service characteristics improved. The exceptions were “cost of fares” (down from 65 to 62 per cent), “availability of seats” (down from 91 to 89 per cent), and “service frequency peak times” (down from 77 to 73 per cent).

Service characteristic	Importance rating %		Satisfied (dissatisfied) %
	2010	2011	2010	2011
Punctuality	65	68	79 (10)	81 (10)
Cost of fares	59	63	65 (8)	62 (10)
Shelter provided at the bus stop	54	59	72 (20)	77 (15)
Service frequency weekdays	58	56	68 (20)	72 (17)
Availability of seats	48	54	91 (5)	89 (6)
Cleanliness on board	52	52	91 (3)	94 (2)
Speed of the trip	52	48	89 (4)	92 (3)
Service frequency peak times	42	47	77 (14)	73 (16)

Passenger safety

In the 2011 PSM, bus users were asked: “How safe do you generally feel from personal interference or threat from other passengers?” The accompanying graph shows the proportion of respondents who “always feel safe” or “usually feel safe” at the specified times/locations on the bus network.

Transperth Buses: Customer perception of safety

Results for the five years 2007-2011 show that virtually all passengers feel safe on board our buses and at station/interchanges during the day. The proportion of users who feel safe on board at night increased significantly, from 79 per cent in 2010, to 82 per cent. The proportion of users who feel safe at night at station/interchanges also jumped three percentage points, from 70 per cent in 2010, to 73 per cent.

Extensive security measures were introduced in 2009-10 in response to concerns about personal safety expressed by passengers who use our buses at night. In 2010-11, the number of security incidents reported fell 4.4 per cent, from 6334 to 6058. This improvement suggests that the new measures have had some success and would have contributed to the turn-around in passengers’ security concerns.

Major initiatives for 2011-12

In 2011-12 we will significantly upgrade our services by introducing an additional 3.3 million bus service kilometres on the Transperth network. Service improvements have been prioritised in the following order:

• Services which cannot pick up additional passengers due to overloading.
• New urban areas developing on the fringes of the metropolitan area.
• Key transport corridors identified by PTA which provide access between key primary and secondary centres to help achieve the planned land use outcomes proposed by the Department of Planning in Directions 2031.