Keolis Downer had as many as five buses driving routes in Newcastle on Tuesday when the public transport operator realised the registration on some of its buses had lapsed, the drivers' union alleges.
While most of the unregistered buses were taken offline until the matter was resolved, the bus driver union has alleged that "four or five" drivers were told to finish their trips before returning to the depot once the lapsed registrations were detected.
"All drivers who were on the road when the company realised they hadn't registered the buses were told to finish their trips, which would have been four or five buses," the union's NSW trams and bus division secretary, David Babineau, said. "That's four or five busloads of passengers who were being driven around in a vehicle the company knew wasn't registered."
In response on Thursday, Keolis Downer did not specifically address the allegation but said that it "takes full responsibility for the administrative error that occurred" and that it told its drivers to return to the depot "immediately after receiving information about the error".
"Keolis Downer sincerely apologises for this incident occurring and the impact it has caused our staff and customers. The safety of our staff, customers, and the community is always our priority," a spokesperson said.
"Once the error was identified, our internal processes were quickly reviewed, and improvement measures have now been implemented to prevent this issue from recurring."
One driver told NBN News this week he was told to return to the Hamilton depot on Tuesday. He said he was not given a reason for the detour and would have pulled over immediately if he knew the bus was unregistered.
Driving or parking an unregistered vehicle on a road or road-related area carries a $1728 penalty for heavy vehicles in NSW and four demerit points. Driving or parking an unregistered vehicle attracts an $818 fine.
The state's transport department, which in 2016 contracted Keolis Downer to run Newcastle's public transport network, said on Thursday it was "working with the operator to fully understand" how the registrations were allowed to lapse.
"Safety is our top priority, for our passengers and our people," a Transport for NSW spokesperson said. "We were advised by the operator that a number of buses in the Newcastle Transport fleet became unregistered at midnight on September 30, which caused disruption to the local bus network on Tuesday."
The Newcastle Herald understands a limited number of buses were operating while unregistered on Tuesday, which were eventually replaced. As of Wednesday, Keolis Downer said the entirety of its fleet was registered and operating.
The operator added in an earlier statement on Wednesday that its fleet had recently passed all relevant safety checks and attained compulsory third-party insurance.
The union argues that Monday's lapse was one more example in a litany of errors since the Hunter network was contracted out.
"Privatisation of our buses has been a disaster on many fronts," Mr Babineau said. "We've made it very clear to the NSW government that putting buses back in public hands is the only way to ensure commuters get the service they deserve, and we will continue to speak to them directly and publicly until they listen. The current private system simply isn't working."
When news broke on Wednesday, the union lashed the operator for failing its "sole job".
"Innocent mistakes happen, but they seem to happen at an alarming rate at Keolis Downer," Mr Babineau said. "When your sole job is to manage a fleet of buses, you would think that making sure they are registered would be a priority.
"This is not an innocent, one-off mistake. Keolis Downer is making mistake after mistake, at the expense of drivers and commuters - from pay issues to scheduling issues and now registration issues."
"The commuters of Newcastle deserve better than this, and so do the bus drivers."
Keolis Downer's contract to run the city's buses, the Stockton ferry, and the Newcastle light rail is expected to expire in 2026.
Keolis Downer's contract to run the city's buses, the Stockton ferry, and the Newcastle light rail is expected to expire in 2026. The operator says it "has and continues to work closely with Transport for NSW", but while the union did not explicitly call for a premature end to the private contract, it said the network needed to be returned to public hands "as soon as possible".
Last month, a damning final report published by the state's bus industry task force found buses and their drivers have been neglected, leading to falling safety standards despite the services carrying millions of passengers each year.
Drivers were underpaid, and safety systems were not closely monitored or improved. Buses move more people than any other form of public transport in the state but remain "neglected, underfunded and largely misunderstood," the report said.
The task force has made 58 recommendations throughout three reports, flagging improvements to safety and increased training for drivers.
Earlier, in February this year, the task force recommended a significant funding increase for better bus services along four key routes in the Lower Hunter.
The transport department says it has given in-principle support to and actioned several of the task force's recommendations and was continuing to implement them.
Since taking control of the network in 2017, Keolis Downer set about changing routes and timetables, sparking complaints from some passengers and a petition of 10,000 signatures tabled in Parliament in 2018.
The Minns government established the bus industry task force last year to examine the effects of privatisation and recommend improvements.
