1400 bus services could be at risk due to new employment laws, Auckland Transport says
Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Auckland might need 90 extra buses and up to 350 extra drivers to maintain services after new employment laws take effect next month.
Under changes to the Employment Relations Act, all workers, including previously-exempt bus drivers, must have a 10-minute break after two hours of work and a half-hour break after four.
This will break the current pattern where drivers can work continuously for up to five-and-a-half hours.
Auckland Transport said it did not yet have a clear picture of what would happen to its services from May 6.
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However, it said estimates provided by three operators in the city suggested 1400 services a day could be at risk.
'There are no spare buses, and we are all aware there is a driver shortage,' Stacey van der Putten, the group manager for Metro Services, said.
About one per cent of Auckland's 12,500 daily bus services were currently being cancelled due to a shortage of drivers, although Auckland Transport said there was gradual improvement.
The figure of 90 new buses and 350 drivers was the agency's own estimate, van der Putten said.
However, that was disputed by trade unions, which said bus operators were exaggerating the likely impact of new rules over breaks.
A meeting between bus companies, unions, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway will be held on Wednesday evening.
The Bus and Coach Association said it wanted more time to implement changes and was worried about the higher costs it would face delivering services contracted at fixed prices for regional councils.
The prescribed breaks could be varied if agreements were reached between companies and drivers.
However, the two main unions said no talks had begun, five weeks out from the new regime.
'We are in the dark,' First Union bus organiser Emir Hodzic said.
'The companies are almost trying to fabricate a crisis around this – they've had plenty of time to prepare.'
The Tramways Union, whose members mostly work for NZ Bus, said it had not yet been consulted by the company.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford accused the Bus and Coach Association of 'catastrophising' the situation and called on companies and drivers' unions to sort the problem out together.
Auckland Transport said it was still working through the likely effect on services, which would depend on how individual bus companies arranged their rosters.
'We hope to have a clear idea next week and we will be getting more information from operators this week,' van der Putten said.
The law changes add to the tension building over the system under which public transport is provided, and which trade unions argue has lowered wages and working conditions for drivers.
The Public Transport Operating Model, or PTOM, was a policy rolled out by the previous Government from 2012, to bring greater competition for routes tendered by regional councils.
Auckland and Wellington, the two biggest bus markets, have just finished overhauling bus routes under the new system, where new operators have won significant business in contracts that run for at least nine years.
The two main drivers' unions, The Tramways Union and First Union, believe the competitive element and the locking-in of long term contracts has resulted in companies cutting wages and working conditions.
Under pressure from the unions, the Minister of Transport Phil Twyford commissioned work on the impact of PTOM, but has declined to release the findings so far, to Stuff.