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22-04-2016, 12:42 PM
#1431
GoBus are very smart operators; their management team have a very long history in the provision of urban public transport services dating back to deregulation of the industry in 1991. I would not underestimate them.
Harvey's comments re unionisation and pay rates are bang on the money. What I have been told by a colleague - but not confirmed - that the wages being offered to GoBus South Auckland drivers is lower than what NZ Bus were offering.
Interestingly NZ Bus have been participating in tenders for other regions, most of which operate under the gross contract rather than net contracts as are standard in AKL, WLG and CHC.
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22-04-2016, 01:09 PM
#1432
![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png) Originally Posted by Harvey Specter
Artemis - the tax advantage may not be public but it is known - 28% of expected profits......
Yes I believe the owners will pay no tax as they are effectively charitable trusts. But I do recall reading that Go Bus said at the time that the tax situation was not material to them winning the contracts.
Yeah right. But that is basically why I posted that we may never know the impact of the tax advantage on their tender pricing.
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22-04-2016, 02:28 PM
#1433
I just don't think an iwi should be allowed to register as a charity for the profit of its members. It makes no sense.
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22-04-2016, 02:40 PM
#1434
![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png) Originally Posted by Lewylewylewy
I just don't think an iwi should be allowed to register as a charity for the profit of its members. It makes no sense.
Totally agree, especially when those members are selected only because of their bloodline, however remote that may be. (I am part Maori, BTW, and less remote than many.)
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22-04-2016, 05:55 PM
#1435
Iwi organisations pay a tax rate of 17.5% which is the marginal tax rate as the vast majority of the beneficiaries of those organisations. This is much the same as what happens to shareholders like us in companies with imputation credits.
This issue was well covered on Media Take which you can watch here on demand.
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22-04-2016, 06:29 PM
#1436
![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png) Originally Posted by Jaa
Iwi organisations pay a tax rate of 17.5% which is the marginal tax rate as the vast majority of the beneficiaries of those organisations. This is much the same as what happens to shareholders like us in companies with imputation credits.
This issue was well covered on Media Take which you can watch here on demand.
The owners of Go Bus are in turn owned by two charitable trusts, which do not pay company tax.
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22-04-2016, 09:01 PM
#1437
You shouldn't be able to register as a charity unless you're actually doing charity work in my opinion... Allowing Maori people to call their family a charity and make a business that doesn't pay as much tax just because of skin colour, then giving them tax benefits, etc is a really great way to cause racism.
It's damaging to business and creates monopolies, churches do it to, like sanitarium. Wrong and corrupt.
Anyway, rant over.
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23-04-2016, 08:08 AM
#1438
Speaking of wrong and corrupt, didn't IFT lose their snapper card deal a while back in a dodgy way? I remember reading something in the paper saying that the govt dept in charge of transport stuff had let slip that they wanted to change to a specific provider so it was the same as the one in Auckland... Then IFT lost the tender process. That looked suspect.
More recently they lost a bus contact in Auckland.
I wonder if there are some unlevel playing fields in this industry or perhaps some broken relationships. Or perhaps it's all above board and I need to loosen my tin foil hat?
Just feels like that side of the business might have trouble coming.
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24-04-2016, 02:08 PM
#1439
![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png) Originally Posted by Lewylewylewy
Speaking of wrong and corrupt, didn't IFT lose their snapper card deal a while back in a dodgy way? I remember reading something in the paper saying that the govt dept in charge of transport stuff had let slip that they wanted to change to a specific provider so it was the same as the one in Auckland... Then IFT lost the tender process. That looked suspect.
More recently they lost a bus contact in Auckland.
I wonder if there are some unlevel playing fields in this industry or perhaps some broken relationships. Or perhaps it's all above board and I need to loosen my tin foil hat?
Just feels like that side of the business might have trouble coming.
The Thales-based system implemented in Auckland represents the de facto ticketing system that is (as far as the NZTA is concerned) to be used nationwide. All regional transport systems will be required to integrate into the system progressively and although regions can still tender for and select a different system to be provided, NZTA ticketing system implementation subsidies will not be guaranteed. Worse still is that the NZTA have established a company called New Zealand Transport Ticketing Ltd, which is being touted as the company that should manage the implementation.
IMO Snapper are likely to lose the Wellington contract, which will probably be the final nail in the coffin for that division.
Another concern with the Thales system is that it is antiquated. In most other countries, separate stored-value cards are being replaced by other technologies such as Visa Paywave (which is now accepted by Transport for London) or NFC based smartphone systems. Why would we want yet another plastic card to carry around and manage the balance of? Shouldn't a freshly implemented system utilise the latest technology and provide the greatest convenience for the customer?
Last edited by Zaphod; 24-04-2016 at 02:11 PM.
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25-04-2016, 06:55 PM
#1440
Today there was an advert on the radio, asking people to have their say on Wellington transport. They gave a url, but I couldn't remember it by the time I got home (side note: that's why radio advertising is a waste of money).
Might be worth us as both shareholders and citizens, having our say. I'll keep an eye out for the URL.
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