Go West transported 2700 personnel over various shutdowns in August and September for BHP’s Pilbara operations.

There were 30,000 people movements in total, to and from the airport and site transfers at Area C, South Flank, Yandi and Jimblebar.

In addition, Go West ran 55 buses across four weeks in September, taking families to see their spouses place of work for BHP’s Family Day in Newman.

The buses operated out of Go West’s BHP Depot in Newman, taking 950 family members to Whaleback 400 to Eastern Ridge, 400 to Jimblebar, 300 to Yandi, 300 to Area C and 450 to South Flank.

The innovative Teletrac Navman system which has been installed on Go West buses has recently been upgraded to include hotspot alerts.

The system will now notify drivers of hazardous areas on the roads, upcoming roadworks and turnoffs.

Go West installed the new system last year to ensure it continued to offer the latest technology to clients for tracking and managing vehicle speed, driver fatigue, maintenance and safety.

Navman also identifies passengers as they board buses using RFID cards and QR codes to assist with contact tracing for COVID-19.

Go West has taken on four new apprentices at depots across its WA operations.

Corey Nunn has started at Go West’s BHP depot in Newman, Stephan Willamowski at the Go West depot in Newman, James Jacobs at Tom Price and Leroy Manuel at Karratha.

Stephan has been with Go West for nine years, starting as a bus driver, becoming a TA two years ago and has now started a mature apprenticeship as a heavy duty diesel mechanic.

James and Leroy are also mature aged heavy duty diesel mechanic apprentices.

The new apprentices join Ryan Babich who started his heavy duty diesel mechanic apprenticeship in 2020 at the Bunbury depot.

Photo: Corey Nunn is working at the BHP depot in Newman.

Congratulations to Swan Transit which worked in collaboration with Go West to win the Kalgoorlie PTA bus contract.

The 10-year contract kicked off this month and includes 12 buses which carry out the town and school bus services.

The local employees who worked for the previous contractor have been brought over to the new Swan Transit contract and the services will operate out of the PTA depot.

“This is a great start to expanding Sealink’s operations to include Kalgoorlie,” said Transit Systems NT and Regional Services General Manager Chris Millard.

“We look forward to seeing what other opportunities arise in Kalgoorlie, particularly among the resource sector companies.”

Go West Tours has acknowledged the State Government’s directive on mandatory vaccinations for fly in-fly out workers in the resources sector and is working on a strategy to meet the new rules, based on the latest health advice.

For the full story, see the announcement on www.wa.gov.au