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Chief Executive Officer’s Overview and Highlights

The 2005/06 financial year was another period of extraordinary growth in patronage for Perth’s public transport system.

To year’s end, customer numbers were up 3.7 per cent across our rail, bus and ferry services to more than 98 million boardings, adding to last year’s 4.9 per cent growth. Undoubtedly a large proportion of the increase, much of it in work-related trips, was a direct result of motorists being persuaded out of their cars by escalating fuel prices.

With no short-term relief in sight, I expect the steady migration to public transport to continue. Indeed, we may well be seeing a fundamental shift in transport patterns in a city where people rely too heavily on cars. It is well documented that public transport is a safer, more cost-effective and more environmentally friendly means of transporting large numbers of people in big cities.

All the world’s great cities have efficient public transport systems and in those cities the individual cost of transport is substantially lower. Local market surveys are now telling us that people in Perth are waking up to the paradigm that public transport is not a cost but a benefit, and are demanding more expenditure in this area. I am very pleased to say the PTA has sufficient robustness built into its systems to cope with rising passenger numbers.

In the context of the petrol price escalation, the development of the Southern Suburbs Railway is particularly timely. With an expected 25,000 passengers each day and with a fully integrated bus service, this $1.6 billion project will be a key contributor to sustainable growth in our city. During the year, there was a $49.8 million increase in the project’s budget and the completion date was pushed back three months to July 2007, but I consider these to be relatively minor issues in what will stand as the biggest public infrastructure project undertaken in Western Australia. The project is proving to be a catalyst for extraordinary growth in Mandurah and the southern suburban corridor, underlining the value of this substantial investment.

The PTA began recruiting the train drivers, transit guards and other staff who will operate the system. Approximately 300 jobs will be created in this process. New MetroRail focused 100 per cent on the Southern Suburbs Railway, following the completion and commissioning of the Thornlie spur line in August last year.

The Government’s decision in 2001 that all new buses should be powered by compressed natural gas is also bearing dividends for Western Australia in our high fuel price environment. At the end of 2005/06, we had increased the number of gas-powered buses to 224 and were moving to bring a further 325 into the fleet over a five-year period. The shift to an abundant local resource is helping protect the public transport system from rising fuel prices.

The new vehicles, built to Euro 4 environmental standards, also have a lower impact on our environment.

The PTA is also making a substantial investment in new rollingstock. We have commissioned 90 new ‘B’ series railcars, and just three more of the current order remained to be delivered at the end of the financial year. The new railcars, costing approximately $280 million, represent the latest technology and are both faster and more comfortable than existing units. They are earmarked for the Northern and Southern Suburbs Railways where higher speeds are possible because of greater distances between stations. Customer feedback about these railcars has been very positive.

Our new smart card ticketing system called SmartRider, the first of its kind in Australia, was very well received by some 7,000 users chosen to be our control group. This exciting new automatic ticketing system allows credit to be loaded onto a card and for passengers to pass through platform entry and exit gates, knowingthe correct fare will be deducted automatically. SmartRider was steadily extended across all buses, trains and ferries. To ensure the system will function at maximum efficiency, the completion date was shifted back to late 2006.

Safety is at the forefront of the PTA’s planning for school students. Following the State Government’s announcement in late 2005 that seat belts would be required on all government funded school buses, the PTA purchased 23 buses fitted with belts. These complemented the 46 buses that had already been fitted out to the new requirements.

I am pleased to report that a frustrating series of mechanical problems with the new Prospector train servicing the Goldfields came to an end. Our supplier, United Rail Group, undertook a major upgrade and redesign. This immediately began to put our on-time running figures back on track. Despite the problems, Transwa’s customer satisfaction levels for rail services remained stable at approximately 85 per cent. Notably, satisfaction with Transwa bus services was very strong at approximately 91 per cent.

Another benefit was the introduction of a 50-cent standard student fare across the PTA transport system, representing a substantial saving to many families.

Overall, I have been delighted by a year of outstanding progress in many key projects. Our across-the-board satisfaction rating dipped slightly to 82.8 per cent during 2005/06, but this was largely the result of the New MetroRail works in the city, some timetable teething issues on the new Thornlie Line and laying of new sleepers on the Armadale Line. I consider this an acceptable short-term loss for a major longer-term gain.

The coming year is very promising. The whole organisation will look forward to:

• completing the construction phase of the Southern Suburbs Railway and major steps towards commencement of operations;
• rolling out the southern corridor bus network services to complement the new railway;
• starting the Rockingham City Centre TransitSystem, similar to Perth’s Central Area Transit (CAT) service, integrating the new railway with
  the city centre and the beach;
• implementing a new customer information system on train stations and at train and bus interchanges to improve information delivery to customers;
• constructing new stations at Joondalup (servicing Joondalup Arena) and Victoria Park, along with major station upgrades at Kelmscott and East Perth; and
• completing, and bringing into full operation, Transperth’s SmartRider ticketing system.

Reece Waldock
Chief Executive Officer