Bus Industry Taskforce - A step in the right direction to bring our buses back!

We have delivered on a key election promise made to the people of New South Wales. We established a Bus Industry Taskforce which reported on the key consequences of the Liberal’s bus privatisation.

When the Liberals privatised our buses, routes were cut, travel times were longer, and the quality of services decreased. This led to service cancellations and driver shortages. Passengers have made it clear that they had enough of cancellations and their services being cut.

We promised the people of NSW that we would deal with the consequences of the former Liberal government’s failed bus privatisation agenda. The Bus Industry Taskforce was an important first step in delivering improvements to bus services across the state.

The Taskforce was chaired by John Lee, a former CEO of the State Transit Authority and multiple private bus companies.

The Taskforce’s focus areas included:

• Service delivery, transparency and accountability;
• Equity of services across the community and reviewing routes and service planning on a region-by-region basis;
• Infrastructure and technology that supports the effective delivery of bus services, including the transition to clean energy;
• Arrangements relating to the employment of drivers, mechanics, and other key personnel;
• Other steps to improve performance including legislative amendments, regulatory changes, contractual or other related actions.

Our community deserves a frequent and reliable bus service to get them where they need to go. This Taskforce is just the start of fixing the mess left by 12 years of Liberal Government privatisation of our essential services.