PTA in the Community

In November 2010, the PTA signed a contract with Volvo Bus Australia for the supply and delivery of 650 low-floor buses - which will enable the PTA to update and modernise its bus fleet for operation within the Perth metropolitan area.

The benefits also flow through to regional communities as buses cascade from the Transperth fleet to the regions, enabling them to upgrade their services with more modern and more accessible vehicles.

Volvo is subcontracting the manufacture of the bus body to local manufacturer Volgren Australia, which will build the bus bodies at its manufacturing facility in Malaga. Deliveries started in 2011-12, when a total of 81 Volvos (68 rigid chassis and 13 articulated or “bendy” buses) entered service with Transperth.

The deal between the Volvo Group and the PTA is a five-year contract with the option to extend by a further five years. Its estimated value is about $400 million over the full ten-year period.

Currently, more than 80 per cent of Transperth’s fleet of 1246 buses are low-floor, accessible and air conditioned. The new Volvo buses will be used to replace older, high-floor buses within the fleet to maintain the excellent accessibility standards of public transport within the Perth metropolitan area, and also to provide the travelling public with the most modern buses on the road.

All buses delivered will be of EEV (enhanced environmentally-friendly vehicles) emission standard or better. EEV is the most stringent of emission standards commercially available. These vehicles have significantly reduced levels of both greenhouse gas emissions and particulate matter with the added bonus of enhanced fuel efficiency.