Request for information: 

1. "If there is a shortage of drivers such that transdev are not able to commit to the bus replacements ahead of time, then why is the maintenance just delayed the "few weeks" it is taking to get more drivers? It appears as if transdev is able to just get what it wants at the expense of the passengers. If they can't commit to the buses, then they need to help resolve the situation or delay. If the delay would be dangerous, then it just shows under maintenance in the past. 
2. will the influx of new bus drivers over the next few weeks have any improvement to the bus replace train services planned as Daran believes? 
3. do transdev use other metlink bus operators to fulfil the bus replace train services? 
4. if transdev do use the other metlink bus operators, does that happen with a degradation of service on the bus network? 
5. As there was disruption, I do not have confidence that the planning you describe actually took place with transdev. I would like to see evidence of that planning from transdev for this block of maintenance. 
   • In addition, I would like to see the capacity numbers for all the trains that would have been scheduled to run, in number of passengers that the train has capacity for, and also in number of actual passengers for the same route and time for the 3 weeks prior.
   • I would like to compare that to the busses that replaced those train services, in terms of number of busses for each service, the capacity of each bus that was used in the replacement, and the actual passenger count for the replacement. 
   • If there was a lower capacity of the bus replacements for this day, then perhaps you can help me understand how that situation came to be given the planning you described that transdev carries out. I understand that this may take time to process the information and am happy to work with you to limit the information such that I am able to make the comparison and get confidence about whether transdev performed adequate planning or not. 
6. From what I gathered from your documentation online is that the bus replace trains should service the same stations as the train would have. Is this not correct? Perhaps you can point me to documentation that is provided to passengers regarding this. 
7. How many people from the councillors, or the management team at metlink, regularly use these services. If they do not, why not? 
8. Does transdev, the train provider, require the use of transurban, mana, or nz bus in order to fulfil their train services when replaced by bus? Why is that bus replacement not done by transdev? Why is transdev being used at all if they can't provide their service as contracted? 
9. how many passengers can the trains being replaced usually hold (capacity)? 
10. how many passengers usually used that trip? 
11. what is the capacity of the single bus that was used to replace the train
12. if the bus capacity is lower (which it surely must be unless the train is from a childrens game...), then why was the bus replacement not planned for the full capacity of what was replaced?"

For a copy of the attachments for this request please email democratic.services@gw.govt.nz