By Michael Doran
Bus commuters will notice a very shiny, new white bus around town but may be puzzled by the Public Transport Victoria livery that adorns it. Those with sharper vision will see that the McKenzies name is still there, albeit in a much smaller size type.
The reason for the change is because it’s a requirement of the new seven year contract between PTV and McKenzies that new buses carry the PTV livery. McKenzie’s General Manager Brad Sanders is concerned that the new signage may confuse people.
“When the government started negotiations for the new contract last year there was a lot of talk about privatisation and compulsory acquisitions,” he said. “We always said we wanted to stay owners of our business and that’s what we have done.
“We have a contract that will enable us to keep our business at the end of the seven year contract but a condition is that all new vehicles carry PTV’s livery.
“This is the first one we have bought under the new contract so it’s in the PTV livery. I am concerned that after last years article people might see the new bus and think we did sell the business but we are still privately owned, with the same services, just with a brand new bus.
“In the new contract I campaigned heavily to get an increase in services for this area but PTV said no. The timetables we are operating are the same ones we had 20 years ago and the whole demographics of Healesville have changed since then.”
He said that more services are especially needed on weekends and yet there are still only five services on Sunday from Healesville to Lilydale, the same frequency as in the 1980s.
“We need to have direct services between Healesville and Lilydale, rather than having to go via Yarra Glen. If you get in a car to go to Lilydale you don’t go to Yarra Glen to get to there but PTV expect the bus to go that way.
“I don’t want to take services away from Yarra Glen and we could look at an interchange in Coldstream. The objective is to maximise Healesville to Lilydale services and give people more options.”
