Page 4869 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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ACTION Buses - School Hire
MR HUMPHRIES: My question, which is addressed to the Minister for Urban Services, relates to ACTION hiring buses to schools for excursions. What is the maximum number of children ACTION permits to be carried on buses hired by schools?
MR CONNOLLY: I thank Mr Humphries for the question. His office was kind enough to notify me in advance that he might be interested in the matter. I would not have been able, off the top of my head, to tell you the maximum number of persons permitted on the various types of buses. The capacity varies according to bus type and configuration. The basic types are the rigid buses and the articulated buses. The basic seating capacity for rigid buses is 43 seated, plus 22 standing, being a total of 65 persons. Articulated buses have a seating capacity that varies between 59 and 71 and, with standing capacity, can carry a total of 110 persons. Those figures are conservative compared with loading capacities that are used elsewhere.
Any passenger overcrowding on ACTION's commuter and school services is reacted to by any or a combination of the following responses: In the case of school services, ensuring that users are aware of the capacities and recommending alternative and possibly better services, replacing a rigid bus with an articulated bus or operating an augmented service, that is, putting an extra bus on; where special hires occur, ACTION staff advising the potential hirers of the best configurations of buses for the number of passengers planned to be carried - and ACTION drivers, who are very safety conscious, are usually very quick to point it out if they feel that the safe capacity of a bus is exceeded.
After being notified of the question, I made some inquiries about whether there were any known incidents of problems. ACTION sources were unable to tell me of any. But, if Mr Humphries is aware of any incidents of safety standards being exceeded, I would certainly ensure that an investigation occurred and that Mr Humphries was advised of the outcome.
MR HUMPHRIES: I ask a supplementary question. Is the Minister saying that the maximum carrying capacity on ACTION buses is the same irrespective of whether the bus is being used for taking children to and from school at the beginning and end of each day or whether it is being hired by schools for excursions?
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