Victorian Government Delivers On $38 billion Victorian Transport Plan
Premier John Brumby today welcomed new operators Metro Trains Melbourne (Metro) and Keolis Downer EDI (KDR) on their first day of operating Melbourne’s train and tram networks.
Viewing the first morning of operations with Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky, Mr Brumby said both operators were selected as partners to work with the Victorian Government to deliver the $38 billion Victorian Transport Plan.
“Today is an important day and sees the start of the new franchises on our train and tram networks,” Mr Brumby said.
“KDR and Metro start their new operating plans to deliver continuous improvements to passengers from day one at a time when patronage on the metropolitan public transport network is reaching almost 500 million passenger trips.
“Both companies will focus on what we believe, and what customers expect to be the non-negotiables – safety, cleanliness, more services and improved punctuality.
“The first of our 38 new trains is undergoing final testing while the second arrived at the Port of Melbourne last week and we’ve started the process to order up to 50 new trams for the network.
“We are taking action to provide Victorians with the best transport network in Australia and allow them to spend more time with their families and less time commuting.”
MTM will employ more than 100 extra customer service staff at City Loop stations and major junctions. On top of this 22 more stations will be staffed and MTM will work closely with Victoria Police to cut crime across the network.
Mr Brumby said tram passengers would benefit from a $5 million plan to reinvigorate the tram fleet, beginning with a deep clean of all trams repairing damaged seats, removing graffiti and fixing vandalised doors.
Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the Brumby Labor Government had improved the franchise contracts to ensure they delivered benefits for public transport users.
“The franchise arrangements include the new Customer Experience Performance Regime, which we’ve introduced because we know customer experience such as safety, cleanliness and information is important to passengers as well as service delivery,” Ms Kosky said.
“We’ll be auditing these factors as part of the new arrangements, with a financial incentive or penalty for the operators.
“Metro will be bound by tougher performance benchmarks for reliability and punctuality – where a train was formerly defined as late if it was later than six minutes, it will be considered late in the new franchise if it runs later than five minutes behind schedule.”
The contracts operate for eight years with a possible extension of seven years based on good performance.
Topics: Australia, Brumby Labor Government, cleanliness, Customer Experience Performance Regime, Economy, employment, good performance, Governance, government, graffiti, improved punctuality, jobs, metro, more services, Port of Melbourne, public transport users, safety, tram fleet, Victoria, Victorian Transport Plan
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