2016-10-17 General Committee Meeting Notes

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                                      17 OCTOBER 2016


7                           ELECTRIC BUS TRIAL EXECUTION OF LEASE AGREEMENT
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                                  Project Manager, Adam Britton & Project Officer, Joanna Ferris
                                        Planning & Infrastructure Department

Index                                   ECM \ Project\ TP000300
                                        ECM \ Subject\ Commercial Bus Routes
                                        ECM \ Subject\ Transport Levy

Attachments                             1.    Lease Agreement (69 Page Report provided separately to this agenda. 2 hard
                                              copies available in the Councillors’ Room)



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not Applicable.


RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Project Officer and Project Manager to the General
Committee Meeting dated 17 October 2016 and award Contract 1516T067 Electric Bus Trial to
AHG International Pty Ltd (AHGI) trading as Higer Bus & Coach for the lump sum amount of
$131,200 (including GST).



REPORT
1.                           Actions from previous Council Meetings
As Council will be aware, there were a number of outstanding issues raised in prior Council
meetings (10 May 2016, 19 May 2016, 12 July 2016, 9 August 2016, 15 August 2016, and 18
August 2016), which were required to be addressed before approval could be provided to enter
into a lease agreement for the provision of an electric bus trial. The outstanding issues have all
now been resolved to the satisfaction of staff and a summary of outcomes is provided below:
            i.              Energex have confirmed that the local Energex network at both Diyan Street and Noosa
                            Drive are capable of servicing the power requirements for the electric bus chargers, when
                            supported by pad mount transformers at each site. As requested, staff attempted to
                            negotiate with Energex on the cost of the required infrastructure and payment terms,
                            however, this was unsuccessful, as Energex required full cost recovery in order for the
                            installation to go ahead.
            ii.             The cost estimate for the design and construction of each of the pad mount transformers is
                            $142,953.28, and will be shared equally with TransLink.
            iii. Energex have advised that any infrastructure works will have a 26 week lead time.
AHGI have provided written confirmation that they will maintain the buses during the trial period.
An agreement between Council and TransLink, placing responsibility on TransLink to ensure the
electric buses are available to AHGI for the maintenance, will be established outside of the lease
agreement with AHGI.
                         iv. TransLink have commenced a formal process with Sunbus to negotiate a revised Sunbus
                             operating cost model. It is anticipated that this will result in lower costs than originally
                             estimated, as the previous quotation from Sunbus was based on operating 3 electric buses
                             using older charging technology.
                         v. Council’s insurer has confirmed that its liability arising from the involvement in the electric
                            bus trial will be covered under the liability provisions provided pursuant to Council's LGM
                            Liability membership.

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