Bus Services

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:24): Supplementary: while I am really tempted to ask what your definition of a monopoly is, I have a question relating to another aspect. In providing tenders to the government, did Torrens Transit make any suggestions in relation to the alteration or closure of bus routes, removal of bus stops or bus service levels, and was this considered in any way in relation to the assessment of those tenders?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (15:24): Again, I thank the member for Florey for her question and do say that it is quite a pertinent and important question. We did ask through the procurement process for the various operators to provide scenarios of different networks. There were two scenarios that were put through to the final procurement phase, and we used that procurement phase to essentially use the operators' knowledge of the network to provide potential network redesign as part of the procurement process.

They were asked to tender on both, essentially to tender on the existing network and then to provide an answer to what an enhanced network could look like. Those did form part of the tender process, but both of those scenarios were tested and I have every confidence that the procurement process was done properly and that the outcomes were the right ones.