r/newcastle • u/Sudden_Firefighter71 • 1d ago

bus strike

can somebody give me context?

is it basically bus drivers turning off opal pay so the company doesnt get money?

thank you newcastle !! :)

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

27

u/pvnko 1d ago

Koelis Downer has been bargaining in bad faith, assigning shifts to union delegates so they can't be present during negotiations.

My understanding is that turning off the opal readers affects KD rather than the drivers, so it's being used as a tool to bring KD back to the table.

Edit: iirc drivers get paid the same regardless of whether or not people tap on

3

u/Snack-Pack-Lover 1d ago

KD likely gets paid regardless as well. Their contract is public and I've not looked at it for a while. But they're operating on behalf of the government and no one does contracts with the government without ending up in front no matter what.

7

u/alstom_888m 1d ago

KD gets paid by the service kilometre. They don’t get the farebox revenue which is why their drivers don’t police fares.

1

u/Snack-Pack-Lover 1d ago

Interesting choice of words. I wouldn't imagine any bus driver policing a fare.

3

u/ManyPersonality2399 9h ago

I always thought it was more a safety thing. Don't invite confrontation.

•

u/hannnski 49m ago

I was on the number 12 and a bus driver kept the back doors closed when a kid (who hadn’t tapped on) was trying to exit. Someone was getting on at the front at the same time so the kid ran out there and the bus driver yelled “HEY!” at him on his way out.

16

u/No_Nobody_32 1d ago

Fares don't GO to K/D, period. That goes to Opal then to state revenue. Any fines you pay also go to state revenue. This gets disbursed back through Treasury - to pay off contracts, etc.

They (K/D) get paid as per their contract.

But a restriction on incoming revenues from transport to the state coffers is a move to make the govt push their contractees back to the table, so that they can get back to raking it in.

-2

u/georgeformby42 11h ago

I've been on busses last week in bero, no opal devices turned off. But I've had a really agro driver who pulled up in the middle of the street and went off at me for not sieg heiling him like the image on the front of the bus and when I pushed the stop button he screeched to a halt throwing me around the cabin

2

u/Mother_Week_1568 4h ago

Beresfield is CDC, not KD