Enviro 500 wrote:If PTA still owns the land, it can be used to house Cockburn routes (520/525/526/530/531/532/535/536) to reduce dead mileage for Palmyra.
While that's possible, with the depot having been used by Swan Transit previously, I would tend to think it'd be more likely that could act as an additional depot for the Canning Contract. In saying that, though, I have heard
rumours that suggest either the Fremantle or Canning Contract may be in line for a Jandakot depot in the future.
It's my understanding that Swan used to setup their own depots (e.g. North Fremantle) as a means of reducing dead running in their contracts (whether that's how Jandakot came to be, I am not sure). However, I recall the PTA now wish to control all their depots in order to level the playing field between potential bidders for the bus contracts in future. With all that in mind, does it make much sense for the Government to spend millions on a facility that reduces dead running costs for the contractors when they aren't even directly reimbursed for dead running?* What about other dead running extremes - almost anywhere in the Fremantle contract to the City (West Perth, East Perth/WACA, Busport, Elizabeth Quay)?
* The lack of payment for dead running is supposed to act as an incentive for the incumbent operator to be innovative, and organise their operation to avoid lengthy trips out of service. Routes like the 75 and 299 to Canning Vale and Kalamunda depots, respectively, are clever examples of that, and I'm sure regular users of the 555, 548 or 549 here have experienced a driver changeover at the Rockingham depot.