KEY POINTS:
Bus-driver unionists doubt new legislation will improve running times and are disappointed it will not enable regional councils to prescribe minimum "liveable" wages.
They have also raised the possibility of industrial instability in the second half of this year when they launch a campaign for a common wage agreement across several Auckland bus companies, including Stagecoach.
The Government has agreed to give councils and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) sweeping powers to set quality and performance standards for all urban bus and ferry services, whether they be run commercially or with public subsidies.
These will include the ability to force the pace towards the creation of transferable tickets between rival transport operators, and regional councils will be able to deregister services not meeting required standards.
Councils have until now been unable to set standards for unsubsidised services, meaning they could not take action over timetable complaints about buses failing to turn up on time, if at all.
But although the Auckland authority has welcomed the promised legislation as critical to its development of an integrated public transport system, including transferable tickets, the National Distribution Union believes it will miss the mark of encouraging greater energy and social sustainability.
Spokesman Karl Andersen says the legislation, which Transport Minister Annette King intends introducing to Parliament within six months, will not provide adequate improvements to bus schedules or guarantee greater use of public transport.
"In Auckland, bus drivers are getting speeding tickets because they are being forced to break the law just to meet Arta's unreasonable timetable schedules," Mr Andersen said yesterday, a claim denied by the authority.
"The solution to meeting timetables is the faster introduction and number of bus-only lanes."
Mr Andersen said the real road-blocks to greater use of public transport were the cost and frequency of services, and he accused the Government of a "greenwash."
He also expressed concern that the new legislation did not include minimum liveable wage standards. "The legislation does not address the tendering system allowing bus companies to undercut competitors' tenders through wage differentials of up to $2 an hour," he said.
