From mid-2018 Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) is appointing Masterton-based Tranzit Group Ltd as the preferred bidder for eight contracts which represent 60% of its bus services.
Palmerston-based Uzabus is the preferred GWRC partner for the bus contracts in Kapiti representing 6% of the available bus services.
Incumbent NZ Bus which is owned by Infratil runs 73% of the bus services in the Greater Wellington Regional Council jurisdiction is the biggest loser in the shake up under the new public transport operating model (PTOM) and will be left holding 28%.
NZ Bus runs the Go Wellington, Airport Flyer and Valley Flyer brands.
According to Stuff, NZ Bus chief executive Zane Fulljames told the NZX that under GWRC rules, no one could hold more than 60% of services in the region.
Fulljames says it was inevitable that NZ Bus would hold fewer contracts at the end of the tender process.
Mana Coach Services, which runs services between Johnsonville and Wellington, is dropping to 6% of the bus services from 25% it holds currently.
GWRC Chair Chris Laidlaw says Tranzit had given Councillors a commitment to employ as many bus drivers as possible from the region’s existing workforce.
Tranzit Managing Director Paul Snelgrove says the company will hire another 380 drivers, with as many as possible coming from the Metlink system.
Tranzit would also build 228 new buses, “with as many built by the Kiwi Bus Builders team as it can handle.”
“The company is delighted to be confirmed as the preferred bidder for the Kapiti Coast area and looks forward to helping the regional council to modernise the bus network,” says UZABus managing director Justin Allan.
Both companies will deliver a new, more environmentally friendly bus fleet that will improve air quality across the region and reduce emissions of harmful pollutants by at least 38% in Wellington and 84% in the Hutt Valley.
Laidlaw says it is likely to see electric buses introduces to Wellington city, further improving environmental benefits.
“We’d like to remind people that we will still be working closely with our other incumbent providers, who will continue to make up over 30% of the market,” he says.
“The announcement of the preferred partners for these nine contracts is another step in the long-term transformation of the region’s public transportation system,” says Laidlaw.
