and 70 per cent slide in road traffic during the extended lockdown last year meant trains and trams ran more smoothly than they had in recent decades.
A government spokeswoman said transport operators had worked around the clock to deliver essential services to Victorians during the pandemic. And along with bonuses, the operators were charged penalties for failures in passenger experience. Metro paid $414,000 in penalties and Yarra Trams paid $270,000 because of failures to meet standards set out in their contracts.
Melbourne University urban planning professor Crystal Legacy said the bonuses highlighted the risks of privatising public infrastructure: the deals “don’t always reflect what is in the best interests of users and the state generally. The incentives put in place are perverse, because doing their job well under the agreement is to do so under conditions where people are actually taking public transport.
A Metro spokesman said the operator’s revenue had dropped as a large number of passengers stayed home to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The fall had been far greater than the total of all performance bonuses earned in 2020. But paying the private companies bonuses for performance only made possible by lockdown conditions amounted to “windfall benefits” and was “a bit rich”.
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)
TimnaJacks Disgraceful
TimnaJacks the trains and trams are empty = no revenue....where do you think these 'bonuses' are going.....
TimnaJacks That’s ridiculous auspol