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NSW Bus Industry Taskforce report highlights a plethora of industry issues

ABC summarises the key points made in the NSW Bus Industry Taskforce’s 204-page second report that was released in February

On May 2 last year, the NSW government launched a Bus Industry Taskforce to investigate the issues plaguing the state’s bus and coach industry. Roughly nine months later, the Taskforce’s second report, released in February, has confirmed that there are many challenges stagnating the state’s bus sector.

The 204-page report, consisting of 27 recommendations, goes into plenty of detail on these issues and has drawn the attention of many in the industry. After trawling through the Taskforce’s second report, here’s a definitive summary of what the report means for the NSW bus industry.

The funding issue

Chaired by John Lee, the Taskforce cuts to the chase in its second report into the issues impacting NSW’s bus industry. The first key issue raised by the Taskforce is the lack of funding that bus and coach services are receiving from Transport for NSW (TfNSW).

The report says bus services in NSW carry approximately 44 per cent of all public transport patronage in NSW but the operating and maintaining costs of bus services only account for approximately 15 per cent of the state government’s public transport expenditure.

There’s also been a lack of funding to meet population growth over the past two years, with only a 0.6 per cent ($10 million) growth in funding in 2023/24 for bus services. The Taskforce found that funding is needed to increase frequency and extend operating hours along 235 local NSW routes.

“The Bus Priority Infrastructure Program (BPIP) of $20 million per annum recurrent funding is the only constant funding source for bus priority and it has remained the same for around 20 years,” the report says.

“It’s inadequate to provide the required investment to realise the needs of a world-class bus system.”

The Taskforce has labelled TfNSW’s current approach to planning bus infrastructure and funding bus services as “fragmented, inconsistent across projects and not always best practice”.

When it comes to existing services, the report says passenger ratings on infrastructure such as bus stops are poor, while TfNSW has identified that 235 Sydney bus routes don’t meet minimum service standards.

A pressing need identified in the report is that more funding is needed for essential minimum local and school services to repair the funding neglect, while a state-wide medium term bus plan was mentioned to focus on growing regions over the next decade with adequate funding.

Asset management woes

A large chunk of the 204-page report narrows in on TfNSW’s management of depots and bus assets. The report refers to this management as “underdeveloped” and “mixed”, with the state government owning some depots in certain contract regions and having no control over others.

The Taskforce’s investigations have found that TfNSW isn’t responsible for the day-to-day maintenance and operation of bus assets and isn’t aware of their conditions, meaning there is limited assurance activity to hold operators accountable.

“It instead relies on others for information about their condition and maintenance, but there are no structured mechanisms for obtaining this data, nor any assurance mechanisms to validate it,” the report says.

“The Taskforce is concerned that TfNSW doesn’t possess sufficient in-house asset management expertise specific to buses.”

The report says the Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) has also raised serious concerns about the “lack of bus related expertise within TfNSW”, painting a picture of a body that needs to develop asset and services plans.

The report calls on TfNSW to become an “informed purchaser of bus assets”, particularly when it comes to the procurement of zero-emissions buses. A key way it calls for this to be done is by establishing a bus asset management team within TfNSW’s structure.

The report also criticises the state government for ordering more than 50 battery electric buses without ensuring the availability of required charging infrastructure.

“This has seen approximately $35 million of state-financed fleet placed in storage for up to a year,” the report says.

“This doesn’t demonstrate an informed asset investment decision. The deployment of these buses would help alleviate fleet age and asset maintenance issues.”

Safety concerns

Following last year’s Hunter Valley bus crash, the Taskforce’s remit was expanded to include bus safety. The second report covers this issue in-depth, focusing in on the Bus Operator Accreditation Scheme (BOAS) system, which it labels as “a tick and flick exercise” that is an “appropriate one-size-fits-all approach”.

“In practice, obtaining and maintaining BOAS accreditation is a process without rigorous content or clear purpose,” the report says.

It also raised concerns about an audit issue, with only 10 out of 22 auditors in the state completing 75 per cent of the auditing work as of October 2022. The Taskforce has focused on a new approach to auditing that starts with risk assessment and establishing distinct risk tiers before revising regulator standards, monitoring operator activities and continually improving safety standards.

The rapid solution

The key part of the Taskforce’s suggested solutions include a short term approach focusing around repairing the funding neglect. From there, the report outlines a medium term bus plan that will implement major service improvements. As part of a longer 40:80:1000 vision, the report wants to see a long-term future of 40 rapid bus corridors with 80 frequent all-day services that are supported by 1000 improvements to local feeder services.

As part of these shortlisted solutions, the Taskforce has identified 10 rapid and 27 frequent services that can be invested in over the short and medium term. At a cost estimate of $194 million of recurrent funding over three years and a $909 million capital funding for infrastructure, the Taskforce says this option would be more economically viable.

To further improve the state’s bus network, the Taskforce also wants the last five cities left in the 16 Cities program to be completed courtesy of increased funding as part of a 40-year rapid bus transit vision that it says would cost $10 billion and be less than a quarter of the price of funding one metro line.

Industry reactions

Following the release of the report, the NSW Liberal party called on the state government to commit to more bus funding, calling the report an example of “transport policy by press release”.

With nothing yet to be actioned to date, the state opposition wants the government to begin funding these suggested changes.

State association BusNSW welcomed the major improvements suggested in the report and is awaiting the final Taskforce report that will be presented to the NSW government on May 1 this year.

“Overall, the second report reflects a collaborative effort to identify opportunities for the NSW bus industry to pave the way for a more efficient and sustainable future,” BusNSW executive director Matt Threlkeld says.

“BusNSW will continue briefing members on the second report throughout the year.”

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