Bus commuters across the Gold Coast are being warned of major disruptions to services today with drivers once again walking off the job.
They’ve launched 24-hour strike action over a long-running dispute over what they claim is low wages, driver shortages and a lack of investment in public transport.
It kicked off at 4.01am on Wednesday and is expected to go until 4:01am Thursday, with hundreds of scheduled services expected to be impacted.
“Kinetic will continue to operate across the Gold Coast during this period, however, due to significant delays and cancellations expected, we can’t guarantee service levels and strongly encourage passengers to make alternative transport arrangements where possible,” South East Queensland Kinetic general manager Martin Hall said.
“Kinetic apologies sincerely to our passengers and community for the substantial impact this will have on commuters”.
The company has vowed to run as many Gold Coast school services as possible to prioritise student safety, however, Kinetic admits disruptions may occur.
“We deeply regret the impact this protected industrial action will have on the local community.”
Due to New South Wales school holidays, there will not be an impact to Tweed school bus services.
The strike action comes despite Kinetic passing on an 8.2 percent pay increase to Gold Coast and Tweed bus drivers in February this year.
“This increase was substantially higher than the Wage Price Index Kinetic receives under its operations contracts and represented a direct investment by Kinetic in better wages for our people,” Mr Hall said.
“We highly value our team members and continue to meet regularly to negotiate additional pay increases as part of multi-year agreements on the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Tweed.”
