Public Transport Authority

Delivering to our customers

One of the things that makes the PTA unique in the Australian industry and unusual even on the world public transport stage is that we are self-contained. We own and operate (directly or indirectly through contractors) all the buses, trains, road coaches and ferries, we do our own route and service planning (including the zone structure); we run the ticketing (SmartRider is the only fully functional card of its type in Australia), we even run (partly through contractors) our own security and maintenance operations.

We also build our own infrastructure, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes less grand. Not only do we take pride in delivering our customers to their destinations in first-class services, we also take pride in delivering first-class infrastructure to our customers. Whether it’s tackling congestion, revitalising the heart of our city, or upgrading stations, we’ve been working hard to ensure the network continues to meet the growing demand today and for the years to come.

Some of this year’s deliveries are discussed below.

Perth City Link Rail Project

On December 19, 2013, the first of thousands of passengers walked through a new pedestrian underpass between Perth Station and Perth Underground to mark the completion of the $360m Perth City Link Rail Project – six months ahead of schedule.

A major engineering feat, the underpass was built under a heritage building and operating rail lines. It is expected to have 22,600 passengers walk through it every day by 2031.

The pedestrian underpass was the final piece of work after the 600m Fremantle Line tunnel was completed in July 2013.  The Perth City Link Rail Project is the catalyst for the State Government’s vision to revitalise the heart of Perth by connecting the CBD and Northbridge for the first time in more than 100 years.

Perth City Link Bus Project

After 40 years of operation, the Wellington Street Bus Station (WSBS) was demolished to make way for an underground busport as the final part of the transport works for the Perth City Link.

The new Perth Busport will be one-of-a-kind in Australia, with a dynamic bus-stand allocation system to maximise the use of the space.

To operate this advanced passenger arrival, waiting and information system, a real-time tracking system will be installed throughout the entire bus fleet to accurately assess the location of every bus and determine the time of its arrival at the new station.

In 2013-14, the City Busport Alliance (the PTA, Brookfield Multiplex and BG&E) began design and construction preparation works for the project.

Work is on time and budget, and has included:

• Roe Street temporary bus station, built by the Perth City Link Rail Alliance, opened in January 2014 with approximately 75 per cent of buses operating from the temporary facility.
• Temporary street-level pedestrian access opened between Roe and Wellington streets.
• Wellington Street temporary bus station opened on July 7, 2014.
• Wellington Street Bus Station demolition completed by June 2014, and work almost completed on another temporary bus station, this one built on the WSBS site by the City Busport Alliance.

The new busport is expected to be opened by mid-2016.

Butler Extension Project

In April 2014, Transport Minister Dean Nalder announced that the communities in Butler and Merriwa were one step closer to accessing Perth’s urban rail network with the practical completion of the new Butler Station, and set for a service opening date in September 2014.

Passenger train operations on the 7.5km extension to Joondalup Line will start in September 2014, two months ahead of schedule and $20m under the budgeted $241m. It is part of a strategic, incremental extension to Perth’s integrated public transport system in the rapidly-expanding north-western suburbs, enhancing the corridor’s sustainability and connections with the wider metropolitan area.

The completion of the station building allowed the remaining infrastructure works to be fast-tracked, enabling testing, commissioning and handover to begin. These works, which continued through balance date into the current financial year, include a major upgrade to the Joondalup Line’s communications systems.

DDA station upgrade: Beckenham, Maddington and Kenwick Stations

It’s out with the old and in with the new along the Armadale Line, with $24.6m invested to upgrade four stations to ensure they are accessible for all passengers.

While many of the PTA’s facilities are years ahead of official disability standards, some older stations still require work to meet modern compliance requirements.

Following Queens Park in 2012-13, Beckenham was completed March 2014, Maddington in April and Kenwick was still in progress at balance date.  All stations have undergone major works to bring them into line and create a more enjoyable passenger experience with:

• New shelters.
• Better lighting and CCTV surveillance.
• Upgraded platform surfaces including tactile paving.
• Upgraded pedestrian track crossings.
• Landscaping.
• Public art.

To reflect the stations’ importance in the local communities, each upgrade has included public art that refers to the area.

Beckenham’s water theme relates to the nearby Yule Brook and Maddington’s importance as a meeting point for the Noongar people was given a bright modern twist with input from Yule Brook College students.

Bus Priority Lane Project

After ten years of State-local government collaboration, the final piece of the Beaufort Street bus priority plan is about to be put in place. When the project is completed early in 2014-15, there will be an unbroken bus priority link from Grand Promenade to Roe Street in the CBD

The $14.2m joint initiative between the State Government and cities of Perth, Vincent and Stirling will help reduce bus travel times from Perth’s north-eastern suburbs into the CBD by about three to four minutes, depending on traffic conditions.

During peak, about 1200 passengers take a bus along Beaufort Street every hour, with a bus running every three minutes. This equates to more than 1.5 million bus passengers, each saving about 30 hours of commuting time a year.

In 2014-15, this highly-successful project will continue with a number of metropolitan roads, including Stirling Highway between Hackett Drive and Broadway, identified for the upgrade.

Escalator and lift upgrade

In June 2013, one of Warwick Station’s escalators was decommissioned as part of a $7.1m project to upgrade lifts and escalators at five stations along the Joondalup Line, and four escalators at Perth Station.

The northern line lifts and escalators were installed 20 years ago and are reaching the end of their operational life. The upgrade involves replacing all of the escalator’s internal parts on-site, rather than the completed parts being lifted in by crane – it’s only the third time this has ever been done in Australia.

The lift work involves removing the old hydraulic lift and building an entirely new steel structure before installing a new, more efficient electric lift. These are bigger than the old models and have wider doors for improved pram, wheelchair and mobility aid access.

Work began at Warwick and Joondalup stations this year. In 2014-15 the upgrade will continue at Joondalup Station and work will begin at Whitfords Station.

The upgrade project, which aims to ensure our stations remain accessible and operating at all times, is due for completion by late-2016.

Car Park Expansion Project

Continued passenger growth on the train network has placed significant pressure on parking in and around our stations.

Since the car park expansion project began in September 2008, $60m has been spent and the number of bays increased by more than 5000.

In 2013-14, an additional 525 bays were added at Rockingham Station and 211 at Bassendean. The investment will continue in 2014-15 with $2.9m allocated to add approximately 350 bays at Guildford.

In addition to this project, $46.5m has been allocated to build the Transperth network’s first multi-storey car park at Edgewater Station. The 960-bay open-deck car park will increase the station’s total parking capacity to approximately 1360 bays. This will help address growing demand along the Joondalup Line, particularly as the northern suburbs’ population continues to grow.

Design will begin in the current financial year, with construction expected to begin in late 2015 for completion in 2016.