Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

Metro Authority Draft Corporate Plan - APTNSW comment

posted Monday 8 June 2009

In May 2009 the Sydney Metro Authority released its draft 2009-2014 Corporate Plan for public comment. The APTNSW submission included the following:

Much of the information in the draft Plan could be labeled as motherhood statements. Nothing, with the exception of the budget information, when it appears, is measurable. This is unfortunate. If the public is to judge the performance of the Authority, it needs criteria which are measurable.
Metro says it is to "monitor" the private operator. "Monitoring" is insufficient. No mention is made of the penalties which will apply for under-performance or how they will be implemented.
The draft Plan mentions a "shadow" operator. This is a new concept for the public to contend with. The Plan should provide a definition of the role of shadow operator, and more information regarding the responsibilities of and constraints applying to, the shadow operator.
The draft Plan states that much of Sydney's future growth will be in the inner and middle ring suburbs (page 8) and that commercial development around station precincts will be carried out on a "case by case" basis (page 10). The government, however, has stated that there will be no high rise development above Rozelle Station (CBD Metro Fact Sheet, March 2009).
The Corporate Plan should acknowledge the relationship between the Authority and the State Government, and in particular the portfolio Minister, and address the potential for conflict between the short term, four-year political election cycle, and the much longer term planning, construction and commissioning of a metro network, and how the Authority intends dealing with that dilemma.
The Plan should list the names and curriculum vitae of the members of the Authority's board and senior executives, and any special conditions of their appointment or roles, and their length of tenure.

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