SCHOOL BUS CONTRACT BALLOT PROCEDURE 
When rationalising school bus service contracts, Public Transport Victoria adopts the long-standing practice that the contract with the most recent Historic Date (“last-on”) contract at the school bus centre in question is terminated (“Last on, First off” policy). In cases where two or more contracts share a “last on” date, the issue is resolved by ballot, in accordance with the School Bus Services Contract and a process agreed to with BusVic.
This document sets out the ballot procedure to be followed.
This procedure follows the undertaking of a review of bus services at a school bus centre and assumes that:
•	The review has determined that one or more contracts are surplus to service requirements at the centre; and
•	The Director of Network Operations has determined that a ballot is required to select which of two or more contracts that share a “last on” Historic Date will be terminated under the “Last on, First off” policy.
Verification
PTV will check all available records to verify that the contract start dates are correct and that two or more contracts share a last on Historic Date within the school bus centre. 
Correspondence
A letter will be sent to each bus operator whose contract shares the “last on” Historic Date. In this letter PTV will:
•	Confirm the service review recommendation to delete one or more contracts;
•	Confirm PTV’s intention to adopt the agreed policy to terminate the most recent Historic Date contract(s) at the centre, in the absence of an operator proposal to voluntarily relinquish a contract;
•	Confirm the operator’s contract start date and the fact that the contract shares the most recent Historic Date with one or more other contracts;
•	Advise that if the operator wishes to dispute the contract Historic Date(s), he or she must do so in writing, accompanied by supporting documentation, to the Director of Franchise Operator Management, within 14 days of the date of the PTV letter. 
•	PTV will confirm with the Operator that PTV’s letter has been received;
•	Advise that in the absence of any agreement between the operators to voluntarily relinquish a contract, a ballot is to be held to determine which contract is to be terminated;
•	Provide details of the location, date and time of the ballot and invite the operator to attend; and
•	Describe the ballot process (see below).
Bus Operators who are members of BusVic may invite Bus Vic to represent them at any time during the Ballot process.
The Ballot 
Location
In general, the ballot will be held at or near the relevant school bus centre, or at a location and time convenient to the bus operators involved. Alternatively, the ballot may be conducted at PTV head office in Melbourne.
Attendees
PTV attendees will include, at a minimum, the Manager School Bus Contracts or the General Manager, Regional/Metro Bus Operations, or their delegate, together with the relevant PTV Representative responsible for the school bus service review.
 Operator attendees may include all parties to the contracts. BusVic members may, if they wish, invite a representative from BusVic to attend.
The ballot meeting will be prepared, executed and chaired by an independent party. The independent Chair will be retained by PTV, will gather information from PTV and attend to all matters associated with the preparation and execution of the ballot to ensure the transparency and integrity of the ballot process. The independent Chair will appoint an independent person to assist with the execution of the ballot.
Process
1)	When the meeting has assembled the Chair will ask all operators if they have any questions about the ballot process. The Chair will clarify any queries the operators may have.
2)	A ballot paper with the relevant “last on” contract name and number and an envelope will then be given to each operator representative. Ballot papers and envelopes will be identical in size, shape and colour.  
3)	The operators will be asked to confirm that the ballot given to them represents their contract and to place the ballot in the supplied envelope. Ballot papers will be of such dimensions that they will not require folding before placement in envelopes.
4)	The Chair-appointed independent person will then leave the room.
5)	Once ballot papers have been placed in the envelopes by the operators, all envelopes will be placed in a suitable ballot container. The container will then be shaken and/or rotated vigorously by the Chair, who will then invite one or more of the operators to repeat the process. Operators will be asked to confirm that sufficient mixing of the ballots has been completed to ensure a fair and unbiased selection.
6)	When the ballot container has been shaken to the satisfaction of all parties, the independent person will be called back into the room. The independent person will then, without delay, draw sufficient ballots from the container such that the number of ballots remaining in the container corresponds to the number of contracts to be terminated.
7)	The Chair will then open the drawn ballot(s) and present them to the meeting.
8)	The contract(s) represented by the drawn ballot(s) will be retained. The ballot(s) remaining in the container will represent the contract(s) to terminate under the service rationalisation. 
9)	The Chair will announce the result of the ballot and ask the parties if they have any comments on the ballot process. PTV will, if requested; explain the process to be followed in the introduction of the service changes. 
10)	The Chair will then formally close the meeting.
Subsequent Action
A record of the meeting will be prepared by an independent person and circulated to all parties. The operator whose contract is to terminate will receive a formal letter of termination in accordance with the terms of the School Bus Service Agreement.