Northern suburbs bus contract set to change

The contract to run Transperth bus services in a significant section of the northern suburbs will change hands next year.

The Public Transport Authority announced today that Transit Systems Pty Ltd, operating as Swan Transit, was the preferred tenderer for the Marmion contract area; and that Veolia Transport Australasia Pty Ltd, operating as Southern Coast Transit, was the preferred tenderer for the Joondalup contract area.

Between them, the two areas represent about 20 per cent of the Transperth bus network.

Australian Transit Enterprises Pty Ltd, operating as Path Transit, is the existing Transperth contractor for Joondalup and Marmion, which are currently operated as a single area.

Under the existing contract, Path employs about 400 people, at least 90 per cent of whom will be offered jobs with the new operators under the requirements of the tender.

The Joondalup and Marmion contracts were put out to tender in June in accordance with Transperth’s normal practice of renewing, on a rotating basis, the 11 long-term bus services contracts which cover the 5500sqkm Perth public transport area.

The 11 contracts, which include the operation of the CAT buses and the Circle Route, are shared between Path (northern suburbs), Swan (east-south-eastern) and Southern Coast (south).

The contracts cover operations only.  The State Government, through the PTA, retains ownership of the buses, and ownership or control of related infrastructure such as depots. The private commercial operators deliver the services to detailed specifications.

Negotiations with the preferred tenderers are expected to be finalised by the end of the year.  The new contracts come into force on May 1, 2011.