28 April 2025
File Ref: OIAPR-1274023063-38169
Iain Palmer
By email:
[FYI request #30537 email]
Tēnā koe Iain
Request for information 2025-110
I refer to your request for information dated 26 March 2025, which was received by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (Greater Wellington) on 26 March 2025. You have requested the
following:
“Can you please provide a copy of the contract between Transdev and the Council to provide
public rail transport services as part of the Metlink network?
In particular, we are interested in the agreed service level for Wairarapa Train Services and
what does and does not constitute the provision of the said service, examples being;
- bus replacements
- reduced carriages
- cancelled services
- delayed services
Furthermore, please advise when and the reasoning for penalties have been applied to
Transdev for failure to provide the agreed Wairarapa service level.”
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
Greater Wellington has a copy of the partnering agreement (the contract) with our rail operator,
Transdev, available online at:
https://www.gw.govt.nz/transport/metlink-bus-train-and-
ferry/public-transport-contracts/. The contract sets out all reporting and accountability
measures for our rail operator to adhere to.
Please note, areas in the contract have been redacted. These areas would be withheld under
the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (the Act) when released as
part of any response to a request under the Act. The section relevant for the withholding of that
information under the Act is stated in the contract.
Wellington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wel ington
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]
6142
Bus replacements
Bus replacements comprise as a ‘service’ on our network. Information on alternative transport
(including bus replacements) and information about disruptions are set out in Schedule 3
Section 3, Part 11 (page 9 to 14) and Schedule 6, Section 3, Part 3.2 of the Partnering Contract
(pages 11 to 12 at
https://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Documents/2024/04/3.-Schedules-3-
19_compressed.pdf).
Reduced carriages
Carriage capacity is generally considered to be a measure of reliability for our services (see
below under
cancelled and delayed services). Information on this is set out in the table in
Schedule 4, Part 19 of the Partnering Contract in Schedule 4, part 19 (pages 102 to 104 at:
https://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Documents/2024/04/3.-Schedules-3-19_compressed.pdf).
Cancelled and delayed services We generally consider reliability and punctuality to be the most important performance
indicators that our operator reports to us. These are defined as follows:
Reliability:
The rail reliability measure shows the percentage of scheduled services that depart from the
origin and key stations no earlier than 30 seconds before the scheduled time, meet the consist
size for the scheduled service (the suggested number of carriages), and stop at all stations
timetabled for the service.
Punctuality:
The rail punctuality measure records the percentage of services arriving at key interchange
stations and final destination within five minutes of the scheduled time.
Information on reliability and punctuality is set out in Schedule 3, Part 2 and Schedule 6, Part 6
of the Partnering Contract (pages 3-5 and pages 191 to 196 at:
https://www.gw.govt.nz/document/22467/rail-partnering-contract-schedules-3-to-19/). Penalties
Penalties are applied to operators for any service that does not meet the punctuality and
reliability quotas as set out in the operator’s contract. These can be found under Schedule 6,
Part 6 (pages 191 to 196 of
Rail Partnering Contract Schedules 3 to 19).
Penalties have been applied to the operator every month since the signing of the contract.
As per the redactions to the Rail Partnering Contract Schedules document on pages 193, 195
and for the rest of the document, all information on the values of penalties applied to any
operator for failure to meet their punctuality and reliability quotas is withheld under section
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7(2)(b)(ii) of the Act, wherein the making available of the information would be likely
unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the
subject of the information.
The release of this information would be likely to compromise the commercial position of both
operator and Metlink, which would result in negotiations with both current and future operators
becoming subject to prejudice. This could lead to the inability of Greater Wellington to negotiate
best value for money on future contracts and may have long-reaching impacts to the ability of
Greater Wellington to impose penalties on Operators, or service levels.
We therefore do not believe that the public interest in the release of the information outweighs
the need to withhold the information.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to
request an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Act.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information
requests where appropriate. Our response to your request will be published shortly on Greater
Wellington’s website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Samantha Gain Kaiwhakahaere Matua Waka-ā-atea | Group Manager Metlink
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