New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PASSENGER TRANSPORT ACT 1990 - SECT 22

22 New services

(1) If, while a commercial contract is on foot with respect to a particular region or route:

(a) the Director-General determines that, in the public interest, additional services should be provided in that region or on, or in proximity to, that route, and

(b) the holder of the contract declines to vary the contract, or enter into a new contract, for the provision of those additional services,

the holder thereby waives the exclusive right to operate regular passenger services in that region or on that route, but only to the extent necessary to enable the operation of those additional services by someone else.

(2) The Director-General may propose the terms and conditions of any variation of the holder’s contract or of any new contract to be offered to the holder.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply if, considering the nature and extent of the proposed additional services, the terms and conditions proposed by the Director-General are unreasonable in light of the provisions of this Act and the regulations and the circumstances of the case.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), the average level of fares prevailing in the industry for comparable services must be considered, together with any other matters relevant to the circumstances of the case.

(5) In the event that additional services proposed by the Director-General affect the exclusive rights of two or more contract holders, it is the duty of all parties to endeavour to agree on a just compromise of their respective rights. Failing such an agreement, the exclusive rights of any one of them (called the "first holder") are, to the extent necessary to enable the additional services to be performed by someone else, extinguished by this subsection when:

(a) a variation of contract is effected, or a new contract is entered into, with another holder so affected, if the proposed additional services are likely to reduce patronage of the services operated by that other holder to a greater extent than they would reduce those of the first holder, or

(b) a new contract is entered into jointly with two or more other holders, patronage of whose services is likely to be reduced to any such greater extent.

(6) Section 28 applies to subsection (5) as though all the holders affected were bound by a common agreement.