Penalties advocated for bus contracts

Auckland City councillors are calling for tougher performance conditions to be considered for lucrative public transport contracts, to discourage crippling bus strikes.

The six-day strike by Stagecoach drivers due to end tonight has prompted the council's transport committee to ask the Auckland Regional Transport Authority what performance measures face private companies receiving hefty public subsidies.

Councillor Penny Sefuiva, in pushing for the inquiry yesterday, told fellow committee members she did not want to pass judgment on the strike "but we don't want a repeat of this sort of dispute".

Deputy Mayor Bruce Hucker was less reserved, saying his sympathies were "clearly with the bus drivers".

"I think it's a hugely responsible job and I would like to see them being paid reasonable wages, and a $2-an-hour increase is to me a reasonable claim," he said.

Dr Hucker said his majority group of City Vision and Labour councillors, of which Mrs Sefuiva is one, strongly supported the drivers in their battle for "a living wage".

But Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now councillor Doug Armstrong said Dr Hucker's declaration was a reason for local authorities never to run commercial activities.

"Any wage claims these people make will have a huge impact on costs of rates to our ratepayers," he said, calling for a reinstatement of the union-busting Employment Contracts Act.

"It is entirely inappropriate for this council and the deputy mayor to make comments on the appropriateness of a $2 wage claim. It is highly subjective. We should stay right out of it."

Mrs Sefuiva said she had no wish to interfere in the Stagecoach dispute, but pointed to the impact on an important public service of the company's apparent inability to retain staff, despite receiving subsidies to run its operation.

She also persuaded the committee to push for a law change to allow local councils more control of the distribution of bus services through their communities, including commercially viable routes and not just those needing public subsidies.

"Only subsidised services are under our control but others run at will and we have no ability to control what streets they run up," she said.

Regional transport authority chief executive Alan Thompson said he believed the loss of subsidies during strikes was a powerful incentive for bus companies to reach pay settlements with their employees, but his agency intended reviewing performance measures in any case.

He told the Herald it would do so before contracts were signed for new western and central bus services from the middle of next year, and would consider if penalties or greater incentives should be introduced.

Stagecoach receives about $35 million a year in subsidies, but has recently lost several North Shore routes to a competitor which pays its drivers markedly lower wages.

Mr Thompson said the authority did not want to discourage established and stable bus operators from competing for contracts, by being too prescriptive as to how they delivered services, as long as these were reliable and safe.