Manly Observer: Can’t catch a break: school trips appear forgotten in local bus privatisation deal

The quasi-privatisation of bus services on the Northern Beaches has caused headaches for local schools once reliant on State Transit buses for excursions and sports matches, with concerns no provision was made to protect the service availability or rising fees.

With the transfer of services from government to a ‘franchise’ model with Keolis Downer (see our previous coverage here), issues have included cancellation of transportation for primary school children to inter-school sports matches; a large increase in costs of hiring private bus services; and the levying of fines when bus services are cancelled, including agreement on who is liable to pay them.

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In September 2022 the NSW Legislative Council severely criticised the NSW Government’s decision to privatise the state-run bus services, calling the takeover of regional service by private operators a “disaster.”

The Privatisation of Bus Services Report concluded: “The community anger and frustration at the degradation of services is palpable. It is clear to us that the NSW Government’s decision to privatise these bus services has been nothing short of a disaster…

“Of course, the government would have us believe that there has been no privatisation, and that the approach to contracting out to private operators is a franchising model distinct from privatisation. The committee, and the public, disagreed.”

The sentiment was echoed by Northern Beaches Greens’ councillors Kristyn Glanville and Miranda Korzy, who called for the privatisation of bus services across Sydney to be reversed.

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Read the full article at: https://manlyobserver.com.au/cant-catch-a-break-school-trips...