Adelaide bus services go private

Issue 

BY ERICA HAINES

ADELAIDE — The South Australian Liberal government hoped to have Adelaide's bus services driving smoothly on the privatisation highway from April 23. Instead, the venture only shuddered along.

The government chose the Easter weekend for transferring operations from the public TransAdelaide to private operators Serco, Torrens Transit and Australian Transit Enterprises hoping for a quiet transition. But on April 26, more than 100,000 commuters, returning to work after the long weekend, confronted delays and confusion.

Drivers didn't know the routes, people waited at bus stops no longer in use and, in the north-eastern suburbs, disabled access buses were not in service. Thousands of people who visited the Passenger Transport Information Centre in the city had to wait in long queues for information and many new timetable brochures were unavailable.

The new operators, the state government and the Public Transport Board tried to put a good face on the changeover, stating they were very happy with it all. But Ray Hancox, the branch secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, told Green Left Weekly that the level of service is "unacceptable". He said that Serco, which runs the north-eastern suburban services, has not explained why disabled-access buses are not in use.

Of the 1200 TransAdelaide employees affected by the outsourcing of bus services, just over 400 have jobs with the new operators, around 500 are now awaiting re-deployment within the public service and 230 have accepted separation packages. State transport minister Diana Laidlaw had promised that only 237 drivers would not be taken on by the new operators.

"Some drivers are in shock", Hancox said, "because they believed what the government told them and now they find themselves with no positions to go to".

The Federal Court will hear an RTBU case against the state government on May 9 in which the union will argue that TransAdelaide employment conditions should remain in force under the new operators.

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