New Sydney and Outer Metro bus contracts (as from 2020)

[Fleet Lists]

Yes far too early to combine.

[kypros1992]

Should the STA observations and private observations threads be merged into one single NSW bus observations thread from next year or should it wait till the STA contract handovers happen

Maybe in the near future observation threads are based on region not operator?

i.e. Greater Sydney observations, Regional NSW observations etc.

[Fleet Lists]

That would be quite clear cut for route buses but not so clear cut for charter buses, coaches etc, which could quite often be in any one those groups.

[tonyp]

That would be quite clear cut for route buses but not so clear cut for charter buses, coaches etc, which could quite often be in any one those groups.

Would Sydney bus observations and Rest of State (or non Sydney) bus observations be a way to divide it?

[BanksfielderIdiot823]

Sydney and Rest of state would be a good idea, but then it would get a little tough when talking about an operator that does both Sydney and greater NSW operations like ComfortDelgro.

Maybe arrange it like the Victorian section: Separate threads for the major operators (ie. Transdev, CDC, Ventura, Dysons) then a separate thread for all the other private operators.

The NSW major operators could be CDC, Transit Systems, Transdev, Busways, Premier and maybe Keolis Downer. Observations on all the others like Punchbowl and Busabout could go to the other private operators thread, including the charters.

[Fleet Lists]

Punchbowl and Busabout also operate in both Sydney and Greater NSW which complicates things.

[BanksfielderIdiot823]

I know they operate Sydney and Greater NSW, but PBC and Busabout have two depots each. Surely that's not much to work out as opposed to the 16 depots of Busways. So it shouldn't involve rocket science to distinguish Riverwood/Goulburn and Sematon Grange/Wagga Wagga. Maybe separate threads could very well be started for Punchy and Busabout considering that those depots are under their same respective companies. Just saying, Sydney doesn't always need to have its own section, especially given the recent activity at CDC NSW with some of the StationLink Hillsbus Volgrens being shifted to the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley

I mean, I did refer to CDC Victoria in my previous post because the CDC Group thread under the Victorian section covered CDC Ballarat and Geelong as well; not just CDC Melbourne. A similar thing could be done here since once again, there are metropolitan and regional bus regions ultimately covered by the same company.

[Stu]

NSW Bus & Coach Observations.

[Linto63]

Privatisation of the 3 State Transit regions announced in October had an 18 to 24 month timeframe, so nothing likely to change in 2020. For 2021, the 2 can probably be combined.

[Stu]

November 2020 is locked in a the date for the awarding of contracts to new operators for Region 7, Region 8 & Region 9.

https://infrastructurepipeline.org/proj ... n-suburbs/

https://infrastructurepipeline.org/wp-c ... 2.2019.pdf

[Fleet Lists]

And March 2020 is locked in as the data for the tenders to be issued for these three regions so only 3 days to go.

[In Transit]

Locked in?

Besides the fact those website sources are from several months ago, under current circumstances where countries all over the globe are moving into lockdowns, very few plans from even a few weeks are “locked in” any more... on any subject, for any organisation.

[Fleet Lists]

I was a being somewhat facetious.

[Stu]

For reference, here is a link for the Market Sounding that was open between 13/12/2019 - 12/01/2020.

https://tenders.nsw.gov.au/?event=publi ... 11EA79FB5C

I have heard that all STA drivers will be given a 2 year job guarantee. It remains to be seen the situation involving the hiring of new drivers before and/or after the handover, will the new operators hire new drivers on a different award or hire on the continuing valid STA award? Will STA hand over with a fully staffed business?

[boeing]

Yes, STA drivers will be guaranteed an offer of employment with the new operator for 2 years under the same award conditions. I think this constitutes a "fully staffed handover".

But I am sure, just as in region 6, new drivers would be hired under an award negotiated by the new operator. In that region there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that treatment of staff is different for those under a legacy award compared to new hires (or existing staff) under a competing award.

I wonder though, whilst the bus changes being discussed are not privatisation (since the government continues to own the assets), given the current health crisis ultimately equates to an economic crisis where nationalision is the savior, will it go ahead?

[Aurora]

Worst case scenario, they can always extend the current operator’s contract for another 6-12 months. Thus delaying the process until the covid situation clears up.

[Daniel]

What difference would that make?

[Aurora]

What difference would that make?

Well it would be a question of whether it is worth undertaking negotiations then organising and taking on a change of operator in the current environment?

[Fleet Lists]

Some possible tenderers may not be in a position to submit tenders with the current uncertainty about the future.

[Linto63]

Tendering for the 3 State Transit regions will be staggered. Region 8 will go to tender next month, 7 in August and 9 in November.

TfNSW Greater Sydney Bus Contracts 7, 8, 9

[swtt]

If CDC won Region 9 that'll be a really disjointed one!

For continuity, Region 9 going to TSA, Region 8 to Forest (CDC anyway, pretending to be Forest), Region 7 to CDC - makes too much sense?

[gilberations]

If CDC won Region 9 that'll be a really disjointed one!

For continuity, Region 9 going to TSA, Region 8 to Forest (CDC anyway, pretending to be Forest), Region 7 to CDC - makes too much sense?

I wouldn’t be surprised if CDC and TSA get into a bidding war to get all three regions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Linto63]

I wouldn’t be surprised if CDC and TSA get into a bidding war to get all three regions.

It's not an auction, prospective operators get to lodge one bid, these are assessed and a winner is declared.

[J_Busworth]

So STA will be all gone by April 2022 by the looks of things. Very sad indeed for all the workers and other staff.

Region 7 has to go to CDC. They should allow them to co-ordinate things with Region 4 in order to achieve the best efficiencies. In a similar vein, Region 9 to TSA would make sense too. SO many TSA routes start much closer to STA R9 depots than TSA R6 depots.

Region 8 would be good for a new entrant perhaps?

[BAMBAM]

So STA will be all gone by April 2022 by the looks of things. Very sad indeed for all the workers and other staff.

Region 7 has to go to CDC. They should allow them to co-ordinate things with Region 4 in order to achieve the best efficiencies. In a similar vein, Region 9 to TSA would make sense too. SO many TSA routes start much closer to STA R9 depots than TSA R6 depots.

Region 8 would be good for a new entrant perhaps?

Let region 9 be Transdev, if the light rail expands then having Transdev doing both the light rail and bus may become a big factor for future tendering when you can tender both as part of new contracts, like in Newcastle where bus and light rail are integrated and run by KD.