Australia: The New South Wales Government on April 12 signed a new contract with Sydney Ferries. Minister for Transport and Roads David Campbell said that the seven-year service agreement was negotiated after the government undertook a market testing process and decided to keep ferry services on Sydney Harbour in public hands.
Some of the key reforms set for Sydney Ferries include: Undertaking a significant restructure to ensure more resources are delivered to the front-end; moving Sydney Ferries under NSW's Transport Department to ensure ferry services are coordinated with Sydney's bus and rail networks; a review of Sydney Ferries' timetables to ensure they remain relevant to passengers' travel needs; and stronger accountability to the government to meet reliability and safety as well as improving customer satisfaction.
"This new contract provides clear performance standards for Sydney Ferries, focusing on the key areas of safety, reliability, customer service and productivity," Mr Campbell said. "Ferry passengers deserve better services."
Mr Campbell said over the summer season, more than 4.1 million passengers caught a Sydney ferry. Service reliability is up to 99.9 percent and complaints for 100,000 passenger journeys has fallen from 6.2 in 2008-2009 to 4.5 so far this financial year.
"Under the new agreement, the NSW Government and Sydney Ferries will also start work on a network review and fleet procurement strategy to ensure Sydney Ferries continue to operate the services that benefit passengers.
"Funds for six replacement vessels have already made available in the Metropolitan Transport Plan."
Click here to read Baird Publications' Editor-in-Chief's March Editorial relating to Sydney Ferries.
