Optimal contracting and incentives for public transport in Sydney: what has been learned from the Sydney Metro experience?

The New South Wales (NSW) government created the Sydney Metro Authority to design, build and operate a completely separate underground Metro rail system to supplement the existing public transport network in Sydney. By the time the NSW government abruptly cancelled the entire Metro project in early 2010, the Authority had conceived and designed a contract that was proceeding to procurement. This paper examines the nature of the proposed Sydney Metro contract in relation to its performance framework and compares this to the frameworks in current contracts for bus, rail and ferry public transport in NSW. Against this background, the paper examines the extent to which the Sydney Metro approach has had an impact on subsequent public transport contracts in the context of the literature on optimal contracting and optimal incentives. The paper concludes that little has been implemented, although the other mode contracts now enable more performance measurement and incentivisation. In particular, the decision to award contracts to existing (and mostly public sector) operators appears to have acted as a brake on developing these performance elements.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.atrf.info/papers/index.aspx
• Authors:
  • Daniels, R
  • Gordon, C
  • Mulley, C
  • Stevens, N
• Conference:
  • Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), 34th, 2011, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
• Publication Date: 2011-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 19p
• Serial:
  • Volume: 34
  • Issue Number: 0117

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Contracts; Incentives; Level of service; Public private partnerships; Public transit; Subways; Transportation operations; Urban areas
• Geographic Terms: Australia; Sydney (Australia)
• ATRI Terms: Contract; Incentive; Public transport; Transport network; Transport performance
• ITRD Terms: 744: Public transport
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01367364
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 5 2012 2:39PM