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The State Government has today released an Invitation to Supply (ITS) for the provision of bus and light rail (tram) services in Metropolitan Adelaide.

As announced in April this year, the bus tender process has split the current contract areas into two phases, the first being released in April and the second phase to be released today.

The former Labor government last outsourced the provision of bus services in metropolitan Adelaide in 2011.

This means the former Labor government outsourced 70 per cent of the current public transport network which is the component of the overall network provided by outsourced bus services.

At the moment, South Australia is the only jurisdiction in the country that does not outsource the operation of its tram services.

All other jurisdictions and networks in Australia outsource the operation of light rail (tram) services, which include;

• Gold Coast light rail;
• Sydney light rail;
• Sydney CBD and South East Light Rail;
• Newcastle light rail (integrated with bus and ferry services);
• Canberra light rail; and,
• Melbourne trams (Yarra Trams).

The focus of this process will be to deliver better and more customer focussed services that will grow patronage and enable;

• A strong customer voice with high levels of customer satisfaction;
• Improved integration of bus services with other public transport modes;
• More frequent and faster services;
• Greater collaboration with customers, stakeholders and local councils; and,
• Innovative and accessible service delivery (responsive to changes in the social and technological environment, accessible to the mobility challenged).

“The Marshall Government is undertaking these reforms to provide better and more customer focussed services for South Australians,” said Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government Stephan Knoll.

“We know that almost half of commuters don’t believe they are getting good value for money and we have seen patronage growth across our public transport network stall.

“The Marshall Government agrees with South Australians that we need to provide a better service to encourage more people to hop on a train, tram or bus.

“That’s why we are undertaking these reforms – to build a better public transport network that will provide a better level of service that incentivises people to use public transport.

“We know that outsourcing of operations is increasingly a preferred business model for delivery of public transport services around the world.

“By doing so, the State Government continues to own and control the assets and services, while capitalising on best practices around the world, to operate efficiently and deliver better services.

“We need to leverage the capability, innovation and expertise from private sector organisations to improve the efficiency and quality of service, while continuing to determine the fare price and the levels of service provided to customers.

“If we are going to provide better and more customer focussed public transport services, we need to keep pace with the rest of the nation and benefit from their learnings.”

In July 2017, an independent review of the current contracts recommended that new and improved contracts be developed and awarded through a competitive tender process.

In May 2018, the State Government announced that it would not renew the Adelaide metropolitan bus service contracts when they expired on 30 June 2019 and would open the Adelaide metropolitan bus services to a competitive tender process.

In September 2018, as previously announced, the current contracts were extended to the second quarter of 2020 to enable sufficient time for a competitive tender process.

The tender process has split the current contract areas into two phases, the first being released in April 2019 and the second phase to be released today.