Bus Contracts

Updated 16 September 2021 8:54am

The Wellington region has an extensive bus network that provides public transport within all of our cities and towns and operates as a feeder to the rail network for journeys through the region.

The contracting environment implemented through the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM) has enabled Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) to take a fresh approach to how services are delivered. PTOM focuses on building commercially based partnering relationships with bus operators. Services are grouped into ‘units’ of routes, and operators will bid to run units instead of individual routes. The Wellington regional bus network is made up of 16 units.

In Wellington City, the units have been designed to deliver a brand new network of services. The new network will give more people access to frequent services, will provide more weekend and later evening services for 15 suburbs and new services for 11 suburbs. More cross-city routes, e.g. from Johnsonville to Island Bay and from Karori to Seatoun, will mean fewer services will begin or end in the CBD, resulting in less bus congestion and quicker journey times.

Which operators were awarded units

In accordance with the requirements for the transition to PTOM, seven units have been directly appointed to incumbent operators and nine units have been tendered. You can find out which bus routes fall under a unit by opening the links below

Unit	Operator	Average annual contracted base service fee	Method
1 - North-South Spine	Tranzit Group	$10,149,854	Tender
2 - East-West Spine	NZ Bus	$12,055,701	Direct Appointment
3 - University	NZ Bus	$4,448,048	Direct Appointment
4 - Khandallah/Aro	Tranzit Group	$4,176,062	Tender
5 - Central	NZ Bus	$4,373,175	Direct Appointment
6 - Taranaki	NZ Bus	$4,202,470	Direct Appointment
7 - Brooklyn/Owhiro	Tranzit Group	$4,237,788	Tender
8 - Newlands	Mana Coach Services	$4,199,809	Direct Appointment
9 - Lower Hutt	Tranzit Group	$7,059,595	Tender
10 - Upper Hutt	Tranzit Group	$5,414,605	Tender
11 - Wainuiomata	Tranzit Group	$2,998,773	Tender
12 - Eastbourne	NZ Bus	$4,219,260	Direct Appointment
13 - Porirua	Tranzit Group	$4,260,071	Tender
14 - Kapiti	Madge Coachlines (t/a Uzabus)	$3,256,931	Tender
15 - Wairarapa	Tranzit Group	$1,138,244	Tender
18 - Tawa	Mana Coach Services	$2,467,775	Direct Appointment

Representative contract

A representative version of the contract entered into between GWRC and bus operators is available below.

Note:

This contract has had commercially sensitive information redacted.

Each redaction in the contract includes a comment box. The comment box shows the section of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA) that forms the basis for the redaction. To view the comments box you need to download the document and open in Acrobat. LGOIMA deals with the availability to the public of official information held by local authorities and includes the limited grounds available for withholding information.

Tender process

Probity principles

As a public entity, GWRC has a very strong commitment to achieving the highest possible standard of probity in relation to this tender process. The key documents that outline GWRC’s probity approach are the PTOM Probity Framework and PTOM Probity Plan (Bus)

Request for Tender documents

The following documentation was provided to those bus operating companies who registered with GWRC to participate in the tender process. Due to ongoing commercial negotiations with operators some sections of the documentation have been redacted.

Update: July 2018 GWRC has concluded its negotiations, please contact us at info@gw.govt.nz should you wish to request a new copy of these documents. Please note that it is likely that GWRC will still need to withhold portions of the information contained in the documents.

Greater Wellington Services - Request for Tender

Redacted Greater Wellington Bus Services - Information Memorandum

Part 1 - Response Template

Part 2a - Instruction Booklet

Part 2b - Instruction Booklet

Fleet Emissions Response Template

Pricing Response Template

Tenderers' Capacity Response Template

Due Diligence Response Template

Submission Checklist Response Template

Director Declaration letter for non-audited accounts

Council decision making

A number of reports and updates were provided to GWRC's elected members during the development and preparation of the tender process. Some of these sought and received decisions from Council. Minutes recording decisions made by Council are included in the documents provided. Certain information in the following documents has been redacted. The reasons for each redaction are noted in the documents:

Council Report - PTOM Bus transition arrangements - 28 September 2016

Restricted public excluded minutes of the Council meeting - PTOM bus transition arrangements - 28 September 2016

Report to Council - approval for RFT release - 29 June 2016

RPE minutes of the Council Meeting - 29 June 2016

Report to STC Approval of RFT for release - 22 June 2016

RPE Minutes of the Sustainable Transport Committee Meeting - 22 June 2016

PTOM Bus Update to Council Workshop - update on RFT for PTOM bus services - 26 May 2016

PTOM Bus update to Council Workshop - Explaining the RFT for PTOM Bus Services - 8 March 2016

Report to Council - bus procurement strategy - 16 December 2015

RPE Minute Extract Council -16 December 2015

Report to Sustainable Transport Committee (STC) - PTOM Bus Procurement Strategy - 1 December 2015

RPE Minutes for the Sustainable Transport Committee Meeting - 1 December 2015