In August 1986, the Metropolitan Transport Trust was rebranded as Transperth. In February 1995 the provision of ferry services was contracted to Captain Cook Cruises.[3][4] In September 1993, the Government announced Transperth would be corporatised and opened up to competition.[5] In February 1995 in preparation for privatisation, Transperth was restructured with the operation of services transferred to MetroBus, with ownership of the buses retained by Transperth.[6][7][8]
In September 1994, expressions of interest were sought from organisations for the operation of Transperth bus services in the Armadale South and Joondalup North areas.[9] MetroBus successfully bid to retain these services.[10]
Transperth retained ownership of the buses leasing them to the operators. MetroBus did not win any further tenders and operated its last bus on 8 November 1998.[23]
The Metropolitan Transport Trust adopted an olive green and cream livery. Following the 1986 rebranding as Transperth a green and white livery was introduced, this being replaced in 1999 by a grey/silver and green livery. This livery was inversed in 2010 as part of a refurbishment.
All buses operated under Transperth are low-entry, wheelchair accessible,[25] and air conditioned.[citation needed] Bus services in Perth are operated by three private companies with services divided into 11 zones that are re-tendered every 10 years.[citation needed] Since January 2020, the contracts were held by:[26]
As of September 2015, there have been a number of fires aboard the fleet's natural gas powered Mercedes-Benz OC 500 LEs. It was discovered that there were possible faults in the on-board fire suppression system installed in the engine compartment at the rear of the bus. A bus fire at the Elizabeth Quay bus station in July was said to have been caused by a leaking coolant cell. A series of one-off fires have occurred in two of the fleet's Mercedes-Benz O405NH diesel buses, both of which were sparked by frayed fan belts. Nobody was injured in any bus fires as the drivers were quick to respond and evacuate any passengers before the fires became lethal.
Special services
Perth CAT
Fremantle CAT
Joondalup CAT
Airport Shuttle
CircleRoute: The CircleRoute is a cross suburban route that links numerous railway stations, shopping centres, universities, schools and the port city of Fremantle. Services run 5–15 minutes weekdays and 15–30 minutes weekends and public holidays.
Central Area Transit: Transperth operates CAT bus services around the Perth, Fremantle and Joondalup CBDs. Services run every 5 – 15 minutes on weekdays and every 10 – 15 minutes on weekends.
Transperth operates a ferry service across the Swan River between Elizabeth Quay (Perth CBD) and the South Perth foreshore. Services depart twice an hour during winter and every 15 minutes during summer. The ferry is popular with commuters and tourists who use it to get to the Perth Zoo. There are currently three Transperth ferries, the MV Shelley Taylor-Smith,[29] the MV Phillip Pendal[30] and the MV Tricia.[31] The ferry service has been operated under contract by Captain Cook Cruises since February 1995.[4][32] In the year ended June 2015, there were 400,000 passenger boardings on Perth ferry services.[33] On 15 November 2019, Transperth announced the third ferry to be named MV Tricia, after Tricia the elephant who is currently in Perth Zoo. MV Tricia was built locally in Dongara, Western Australia.[34][35][36] Its maiden voyage was on Friday, 20 December 2019, with a special trip down the Swan River passing the Swan Bells, Matagarup Bridge and Optus Stadium.[37][38]
Services operate from 05:00 until 00:00 (until 02:00 on Saturday and Sunday mornings) with a minimum frequency of 3–15 minutes until 19:30 and 30 minutes until midnight, 15 minutes weekday and weekend (including public holidays). Post midnight services on Saturday and Sunday mornings operate on one-hour frequency until 02:15. In the year ended June 2015, 64.2 million passenger journeys were made on the network, up from 31.1 million in 2003–04.[33]
Introduced in 2003 as TravelEasy before rebranding to My Account in 2014–15,[40] My Account is an online account for Transperth passengers to manage their SmartRider, parking registration, and travel alert services.
My SmartRider is the portal that allows passengers using SmartRiders to register their SmartRiders and directly manage their cards. Functions available include viewing card balance and fare type, SmartRider Autoload management, manage bike shelter access, SmartParker management, and the transaction history.
My SmartParker is the portal for passengers who park their cars at train stations to register their cars in order to use their SmartRider to pay for parking.
My Alerts is the service which My Account users can register for in order to receive alerts about upcoming works, changes and disruptions on their nominated services. These notifications are distributed via email. Advance notice is given for permanent changes and planned disruptions, with unplanned disruptions typically only being notified if they are significant (such as long delays or non-trivial peak hour delays).
Google transit
Perth became the first city in Australia to use Google transit, whereby all bus stops, railway stations and ferry wharfs have a clickable symbol on Google Maps which reveals the next departures from that stop. Public transport is also available as an option for Google Maps' directions feature.[41]
Live train times
As of 10 December 2009, the TravelEasy users can view the live train times to see whether the train services is on time or not as well as live departure times.[42] This service has now been made available to all commuters, and a cut-down version has been placed on 136213.mobi.
136213.MOBI
The 136213.MOBI service was launched on 10 June 2008. The service allows for public transport information, such as upcoming departures, service changes and SmartRider balances, to be obtained on a WAP-compatible mobile phone.
The ticketing system used on the network has been updated as technology has advanced, with the current options available to passengers being cash tickets from ticket vending machines at railway stations, a ferry wharf, or bus driver or by using their SmartRider, a re-loadable stored-value card.[43]
The Transperth network is separated into 9 fare zones plus a "Free Travel Zone" in the Perth CBD, with fares being calculated based on number the of zones crossed at either standard or concession rates, with SmartRiders taking a 10% discount, increasing to 20% with the Autoload feature active. Additionally, SmartRider users have their daily fare capped at the price of the DayRider special fare. Due to a fare cap introduced on 1 January 2022, fares for each trip are limited to 2 zones, with the effect that the ordinary fares available are 2 section, 1 zone, and 2 zones.[44] In addition to these ordinary fares, there are several special fares available.[45]
The special fare classes and concessions include:[46]
Fare type
Details
Two Section
For a trip of 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) or less for a one way trip on any service. Automatically calculated for SmartRider users.
DayRider
Unlimited travel for the day of purchase.
FamilyRider
Unlimited travel for 7 passengers (up to 2 standard fares).
Available:
all day on weekends and public holidays
zones 1–4, after 09:00 on school holidays
zones 5–9, after 08:30 on school holidays
after 18:00 Monday to Thursday (school days)
after 15:00 Friday (school days)
Children under 5 years
Free travel.
Seniors SmartRider
Available for seniors, valid for free travel on all days between 09:00 and 15:30, as well as weekends / public holidays and Senior's week. (replacing the Senior MultiRider)
Interstate Senior
Seniors from interstate may access a concession fare. Interstate Senior Card required.
Student SmartRider
Available for primary and secondary school students (replacing the Student MultiRider)
Tertiary SmartRider
Available for full time university and TAFE students. Additionally available for interstate primary and secondary students and secondary students aged 19+.
Pensioner SmartRider
Concession fare or free travel for multiple types of pensioner, including:
Disability Support Pensioner
Age Pensioner
Carer
Veteran SmartRider
Concession fare or free travel for veterans and war widows/widowers.
Vision Impaired Concession
Free travel available to holders of a Vision Impairment Travel Pass from any Australian jurisdiction, and an accompanying guide. Also available holders of a Orientation and Mobility Instructor Pass conducting training for vision impaired persons or guide dogs.
Health Care Card Concession
Concession fare for holders of a West Australian addressed Centrelink Health Care Card and their dependants as listed on the card.
Previous methods
In the early 1990s, the network changed over from the use of train conductors with old rotary paper ticketing units and installed self-service ticket vending machines supplied by Ascom. The same rotary units in place on buses were replaced with technology supplied by Wayfarer Transit Systems.
Also at the same time, an upgraded version of the pre-encoded multi-trip ticket system MultiRider was introduced, also relying on technology from Wayfarer.
Controversies
August 2014: A bus driver was fired for "screaming" at a teenage boy after he accidentally pressed the "stop button" too early by accident. The bus driver was said to have suddenly stopped the bus and forced the boy off the bus on an isolated stretch of road in Perth's southeastern suburbs.[47]
February 2016: A bus driver refused to give a young girl a ride from Whitfords after she was unable to use her SmartRider as she ran out of credit, instead forced to pay the 80 cent fare. Despite efforts from fellow passengers to pay the fare, the bus driver forced her to walk to Whitfords railway station and drove off.[48]
February 2016: A bus driver was fired after a Byford grandmother was "dragged" behind an Armadale bus service. When the doors closed, her arm became trapped. Afterward, the bus driver moved off, but only stopped when passengers intervened. The bus driver did not apologise to the woman, nor offer assistance.[49]
These trial units are based on touch-screen technology, and provide an expanded number of options including being able to purchase multiple quantities of tickets at the same time, as well as optionally being able to pay using either notes or electronic funds transfer from a cheque or savings account using a debit card, dependent on these components being installed in the unit. These are now installed in all railway stations in place of the older ticketing vending machines. They were made by and contracted out to Xerox who won the bid to change out the fare system.
In 2007, the MultiRider ticketing system was replaced with the SmartRider ticketing system which uses contactless electronic ticketing system using smartcard technology for the process of charging patrons for public transport.
The SmartRider is a smartcard incorporating a microchip and internal aerial, allowing the smartcard to communicate with processors located on Transperth buses and ferries and at railway stations. The microchip enables value to be loaded onto the card, as well as allowing the journey details to be recorded and the appropriate fare deducted from the stored value on the card. The card is able to pay for bus, ferry or train travel and can also be used at some Pay 'n' Display railway station car parks to pay for parking. In a system which Transperth calls "SmartParker", the user can register their car's registration plate and pay for parking by swiping the card at a payment machine on the way from the car park to the station: such payment is now valid for 24 hours.
It is also used to authenticate access to the Lock 'n' Ride secure bicycle storage areas at some stations.[50]
Free Transit Zone
Perth has a Free Transit Zone (FTZ) with travel free on buses in the central business district. The FTZ funded by an annual levy on non-residential parking bays in Perth, East Perth, West Perth and Northbridge.[51]
On the rail network, however, free travel within the zone is only available to passengers who have purchased a SmartRider card. This was not always the case, but is now required due to changes in station structures brought about by the implementation of the SmartRider ticketing system.[52]
In September 2012, the government announced that construction would begin in 2016 on a new Perth light rail network, to be known as Metro Area Express (MAX).[53][54] The first stage of the MAX network was to run from the Polytechnic West campus in Balga, in Perth's northern suburbs, to the Perth CBD, with spur lines from the CBD to the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre in Nedlands and The Causeway in East Perth. Construction of the first stage was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018.[53] In December 2013 the government deferred a decision on whether to build the line, with it cancelled in 2016.[55]
Prior to the 2017 Western Australian state election, the then-opposition Labor Party promised a large expansion to Perth's rail network under the title Metronet.[56] After the comprehensive victory by Labor, the Mark McGowan government established Metronet as an agency of the Public Transport Authority to oversee a number of projects to expand and improve the network.[57] Projects in stage one include:
Perth's first east–west rail link is planned to run between Thornlie and Cockburn Central stations, connecting the Mandurah and Armadale lines.[68] This proposal involves 14.5 km of new railway, relocating 11 km of freight line and building two new stations, with construction set to start in 2019.[68]
Joondalup rail extension to Yanchep
The Yanchep Rail Extension is a 14.5 km project to extend the Joondalup line North for 14.5 km with stations at Alkimos, Eglinton and Yanchep.[69] The extension is set to start construction in 2019.[69] The Yanchep Rail Extension and the Thornlie-Cockburn Link are slated to have a combined cost of $1.1 billion.[70]
^"About". metronet.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
^"Annual Report 2009–2010". Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA). Government of Western Australia. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
^"Annual Report 2010–2011". Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA). Government of Western Australia. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
