Newcastle's private transport operator Keolis Downer has responded to claims they are still underpaying drivers and cancelling services.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) says there are still problems occurring two months after dozens of bus drivers were underpaid hundreds of dollars.
Keolis Downer admits there were problems with the payroll system, but the incidence of workers being underpaid are much less than they were three months ago when they first took over Newcastle's transport system.
"The pay roll that was run Wednesday last week for a total workforce of around 350 people we had only nine errors within that payroll run, some of those were overpayments, some of those were underpayments. Where we had underpayments the corrective payment has been made within days of the error being identified,"
"So this issue has certainly reduced down to a point where we have only a handful of errors on the most recent payroll run," said Keolis Downer Chief Executive Campbell Mason.Several of the Hunter's Labor MPs met with the RTBU and workers yesterday, calling for action from Transport Minister Andrew Constance on the operator. The call for action comes after he promised Newcastle and the Hunter a world-class transport system, but MPs are all in agreeance that Keolis Downer is failing to provide it.
Another problem is services being cancelled, often without notice.
"The worst month that we had for cancelled services was August when the flu spike was at its worst and certainly the cancellations have stabilised since then. So its nothing like the problem that it was in August, and we have also recruited additional drivers into our workforce so that we are more resilient and more able to deal with those sorts of shocks should they happen again," said Campbell Mason.
Despite all of the criticism, Campbell Mason is confident Keolis Downer will be a world-class transport operator in Newcastle and bring the people what they want.
"I've used teething problems to describe the system issues that we've been addressing, there are some broader based issues within the business where we need to driver longer-term improvement and change so I don't see us putting a time frame on turning the business around as such. Some of the things can be readily fixed, other things will take time to fix."
